txhvavy  of  trhe  t:heolo0ical  ^tmimvy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate   of   the 
Rev,   John  P,   Wledinp:er 
BX   9084    .N5   1906 
Nicoll,  W.   Robertson  1851- 

1923. 
The  lamp  of  sacrifice 


^<^ 


'^. 


THE   LAMP  OF   SACRIFICE 


THE 

LAMP  OF  SACRI 


SERMONS  PREACHED  ON  SPECIAL 
OCCASIONS 


BY 

W.    ROBERTSON   NICOLL 

editor  of  *  the  expositor,'  '  the  expositor's  bible,' 
'the  expositor's  greek  testament,'  etc. 


NEW   YORK 
EATON     AND     MAINS 


TO 


CONSTANCE,   MAURICE  and  MILDRED 


PREFATORY   NOTE 

After  some  twelve  years  of  service  in  the 
Christian  ministry,  I  was  physically  disabled 
from  public  speaking  for  a  considerable  period. 
Since  then  I  have  found  it  possible  to  give 
occasional  sermons  and  addresses,  and  some 
of  them  are  collected  in  this  volume.  It  will 
be  seen  that  the  thought  of  the  place  and 
power  of  Sacrifice  runs  through  the  sermons. 

Hampstead, 
October  1906. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Lord's  Servant  Deaf  and  Blind       .         .  i 

Who  is  blind,  but  my  servant  ?  or  deaf,  as  my  messenger 
that  I  sent  ?  Who  is  blind  as  he  that  is  perfect,  and 
blind  as  the  Lord's  servant? — Isaiah  xlii.  19. 

"Whatsoever  Thou  Spendest  More"        .         .       21 
Whatsoever  thou  spendest  more. — Luke  x.  35. 

Not  Afraid  of  Sackcloth  .         ,  .         -37 

None  might  enter  into  the  king's  gate  clothed  with 
sackcloth. — Esther  iv.  2. 

Seeing  then  that  we  have  such  hope,  we  use  great  plain- 
ness of  speech. — 11  Cor.  iii.  12, 

Gethsemane,  the  Rose  Garden  of  God    .         .       55 
Without  shedding  of  blood  is  no . — Hebrews  ix.  22. 

The  Watershed  .         ,         .         .         .         -76 

We  preach  Christ  crucified. — 1  COR.  i.  23. 

ix 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


The  Message  for  Midnight       ,         .         .         -97 

A  friend  of  mine  in  his  journey  is  come  to  me.  and  I 
have  nothing  to  set  before  him. — Luke  xi.  6. 


"I  Will  Build  My  Church"    .  .         .113 

And  Simon  Peter  answered  and  said,  Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God.  And  Jesus  answered 
and  said  .  .  .  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will 
build  My  Church  ;  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  it. — Matt.  xvi.  16,  18. 


The  Lamb's  War  with  the  Beast      .         .         .134 

These  shall   make   war   with  the  Lamb,  and   the    Lamb 
shall  overcome  them. — Rev.  xvii.  14. 


The  Frankness  of  Jesus  Christ       .         .         -155 

If  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you. — John  xiv.  2. 

The  Father  and  the  Three  Sons    .         .         .172 

When  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,    his  father  saw   him, 
and  had  compassion,    and   ran,    and  fell  on  his  neck,  and 
kissed  him.   .    .   .    Now  his  elder  son   was  in  the  field. —       • 
Luke  xv.  20,  25. 

"  The  Sound  of  a  Trumpet  and  the  Voice  of 

Words  "       .         .         .         .         .         .         .189 

The   sound  of  a  trumpet    and    the    voice    of  words. — 
Hebrews  xii.  19. 


CONTENTS  xi 


PAGE 


The  Homing  of  the  People      ....     205 

And  every  man  went  unto  his  own  house.     Jesus  went 
unto  the  Mount  of  Olives. — John  vii.  53,  and  viii.  i. 


The  Blessing  of  Persecution    .         .         .         .226 

O    Lord,   by    these    things    men  live,   and    in  all    these         ^ 
things  is  the  life  of  my  spirit. — Isaiah  xxxviii.  16. 


The  Course  of  True  Love        ....     244 

God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should  not  perish, 
but  have  everlasting  life. — John  iii.  16. 

Aspects  of  the  Mystical  Union       .  .         .261 

We  are  members  of  His  body,  of  His  flesh,  and  of  His 
bones. — Ephesians  v.  30. 

The  Future  of  the  Christian  Church    .         .     279 

All  the  ends  of  the  world  shall  remember,  and  turn 
unto  the  Lord. — Psalm  xxii.  27. 


ADDRESSES 

What  is  our  Chief  Peril?        .         .         .         .301 

Address  delivered  at  a  meeting  of  Congregational 
ministers  at  Lyndhurst  Road  Church,  Hampstead,  July 
7,  1898. 

Suggestions  towards  an  Ethical  Union  .         .318 

Read  before  a  society  of  clergymen  of  the  Church  of 
England,  June  26,  1899. 


xii  CONTENTS 


PAGE 

The  Preaching  of  Hall  and  Foster        .         .     341 

Address  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  Baptist  College, 
Bristol,  in  Broadmead  Chapel,  September  19,  1899. 

The  Passion  of  Cowper    .         .         .         .         -371 

Address  prepared  for  the   Cowper  Centenary  at  Olney, 
on  April  25,  1900. 

Joseph  Parker  :  in  Memoriam   ....     386 

Memorial  address  at  the  funeral  service.   City    Temple, 
London,  December  4,  1902. 


THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND 

BLIND^ 

Who  is  blind,  but  my  servant  ?  or  deaf,  as  my  messenger 
that  I  sent  ?  Who  is  bHnd  as  he  that  is  perfect,  and  bhnd  as 
the  Lord's  servant? — Isaiah  xlii.  19. 

For  our  present  purpose  It  is  unnecessary  to 
consider  the  modern  critical  interpretation  of 
the  servant  of  the  Lord  in  Isaiah.  We  apply 
the  title  to  Christ,  and  read  the  text  as  a  side- 
light on  His  life.  That  Christ  was  in  the 
highest  sense  the  servant  of  God  and  man  is 
His  own  teaching.  The  Son  of  man,  He  said  | 
Himself,  came  not  to  be  served,  but  to  be  a 
servant,  and  to  give  His  life  as  a  ransom  for 
many.  It  was  the  fulfilment  of  the  will  of 
God,  the  perfect  rendering  of  the  service  . 
claimed,  that  was  the  supreme  object  of  His 

^  Substance  of  sermon  preached  at  the  reopening  of  Viewforth  Free 
Church,  Edinburgh,  Sunday,  October  16,  1898. 

B 


2       THE  LORDS  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND 

earthly  life.  He  girded  Himself  through  these 
mortal  years,  and  without  ceasing  served  God 
and  man.  Insomuch  that  the  old  saying  carries 
a  deep  truth,  that  our  Lord  looked  to  hear  for 
Himself  from  His  Father's  lips  the  word  He 
spake  in  parable,  ''  Well  done,  thou  good  and 
faithful  servant :  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a 
few  things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many 
things  :  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 
But  how  should  it  be  said  of  the  servant  and 
messenger  of  the  Lord  that  He  was  blind  as 
none  other  ?  How  should  it  be  said  of  Him 
Whose  eyes  are  as  a  flame  of  fire.  Whose  look 
struck  like  a  sword  ?  Is  it  not  told  that  when 
the  Apostle  saw  Him  he  fell  as  dead  before  the 
intolerable  lustre  of  His  eyes?  Did  not  His 
gaze  pierce  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and 
spirit,  to  the  last  recesses  of  the  thoughts  and 
intents  of  the  heart  ?  Are  not  all  things  naked 
and  open  unto  the  eyes  of  Him  with  Whom  we 
have  to  do  ?  Yes  ;  but,  as  the  older  writers 
and  expositors  have  pointed  out,  He  was  in  a 
sense  blind.  They  dwelt  on  the  fact  that  His 
\  was  the  blindness   that  has  no  sense  of  diffi- 


THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND      3 

culties.  It  is  told  of  an  officer  attacking  ani(' 
almost  Impregnable  fort  that  he  was  In  great 
peril,  and  was  recalled  by  his  chief.  To  disobey 
the  recall  was  death,  if  only  he  saw  it.  He  was 
blind  in  one  eye,  and  when  told  of  the  recall  he 
turned  the  blind  eye  on  the  signal,  and  asked 
that  the  battle  should  continue.  This  Is  the 
blindness  of  Christ  and  His  faithful.  "  Who  art 
thou,  O  great  mountain  } "  Christ  indeed  lifted 
His  eyes  to  the  hills,  but  not  to  these  lower 
hills  that  block  the  way  and  close  us  in.  He 
lifted  His  eyes  to  the  everlasting  mountains, 
towering  far  above  them,  on  whose  summit  the 
final  feast  of  triumph  is  to  be  spread.  Beyond 
the  obstacles  and  thwartlngs  that  marked  His 
earthly  course  He  had  a  vision  of  the  patience 
of  God.  He  was  blind,  I  say,  to  difficulty, 
even  as  His  xA.posde  was.  None  of  these 
things  moved  Him.  A  king  about  to  engage 
an  army  five  times  as  large  as  his  own,  prayed 
to  God  that  He  would  take  away  from  him  the 
sense  of  numbers.  The  sense  of  numbers,  in, 
the  earthly  manner,  Christ  never  possessed,  v 
On  that  side  He  was  blind. 


(■ 


V 


4       THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND 

But  I  speak  specially  of  His  blindness  to 
much  in  life  that  we  consider  it  legitimate  to 
see.  He  was  blind  to  the  allurement  of  our 
ordinary  ambitions.  The  desire  for  money 
never  seemed  to  touch  Him.  "  Lay  not  up  for 
yourselves  treasures  on  earth,"  said  He,  and 
He  kept  His  own  precept.  There  is  something 
suggestive  in  His  request,  "  Show  Me  a  penny." 
Evidently  He  did  not  possess  one,  and  when 
He  died  He  left  nothing  behind  Him  but  the 
garment  for  which  they  threw  dice  beneath  the 
tree.  Nor  had  He  anything  of  the  modern 
feeling,  which  is  not  all  a  sham,  that  those 
who  can  open  new  channels  of  commerce  and 
industry,  who  can  promote  the  peaceable  inter- 
course of  the  world,  are  serving  humanity. 
To  all  this,  who  was  blind  as  He  that  was 
perfect,  and  blind  as  the  Lord's  servant  ?  He 
was  blind  also,  so  far  as  we  can  tell,  to  that 
region  which  is  the  scene  of  the  chief  triumphs 
and  apostasies  of  the  heart — the  rich  and 
volcanic  and  often  wasted  region  of  passion. 
I  think  that  Dora  Greenwell's  remark  is  true, 
that  the  passion  of  love  which  forms  the  staple 


THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND      5 

of  imaginative  literature  is  absolutely  unknown 
to  the  New  Testament.  Then  let  us  think  of 
the  immense  encroachment  on  human  thought 
and  interest  that  the  subject  of  recreation  has/, 
made.  Go  back  even  ten  or  twenty  years, 
and  you  will  find  that  the  space  devoted  to  the 
subject  in  newspapers  has  enormously  grown. 
It  seems  to  be  growing  still,  so  much  that  men 
think  more  of  their  recreations  than  they  think 
of  their  business.  We  agree  that  there  is  a 
legitimate  place  for  recreation,  but  it  did  not 
enter  into  the  Lord's  thought.  His  one  way 
of  resting  was  to  go  into  a  desert  place,  or 
to  ascend  a  mountain  and  pray.  Beyond  that, 
we  find  nothing  in  Him  that  answers  to  the  ( 
modern  intoxication  and  craving.  Once  more, 
the  sphere  of  art  and  culture  He  seems  to  have 
left  alone.  He,  the  Poet  of  the  universe,  was 
not  interested  in  poetry.  He  glanced  at  the 
Divine  glory  of  the  lily,  and  said  that  it  sur- 
passed even  the  glory  of  Solomon.  But  of  the 
treasures  and  marvels  of  human  art  and 
imagination  He  had  nothing  to  say,  and  appar- 
ently nothing  to  think.     On  these  sides  who, 


6       THE  LORDS  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND 

we  ask,  was  blind  as  He  that  is  perfect,  and 
blind  as  the  Lord's  servant  ? 

Again,  He  was  deaf.  But  who  said  "  the 
Lord  God  hath  opened  mine  ear,  and  I  was 
not  rebellious,  neither  turned  away  back.  I 
gave  my  back  to  the  smiters,  and  my  cheeks 
to  them  that  plucked  off  the  hair  "  .^  It  was 
He  Who  heard  so  well  the  lightest  whisper  of 
God  :  ''  I  delight  to  do  Thy  will,  O  My  God  ; 
yea,  Thy  law  is  within  My  heart."  What 
response  ever  came  so  quickly  as  our  Lord's 
'*  Lo,  I  come  "  }  To  be  obedient  means  to 
listen,  and  He  was  a  listener  unto  death.  But 
how  deaf  He  was  sometimes,  deaf  to  Satan, 
deaf  to  His  friends,  deaf  to  His  human 
enemies !  How  deaf  when  Satan  tempted 
Him  in  the  wilderness;  how  deaf  to  His 
friends  when  they  sought  to  alter  His  course  ; 
how  deaf  to  Peter  when  he  said,  ''  This  shall 
not  be  unto  Thee " ;  how  deaf  when  they 
tried  to  make  Him  a  King  by  force  ;  how  deaf 
in  the  Judgment  Hall  when  they  asked  Him, 
"  Whence  art  Thou  ?  Hearest  Thou  not  how 
many  things  they  witness  against  Thee  ? "    The 


THE  LORDS  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND      7 

Incarnate  Word  stood  with  locked  lips  before 
Pilate,  and  answered  only  with  a  boding,  fate- 
ful silence  to  questions  such  as  these.  And 
how  supremely  deaf  when  they  called  to  Him, 
''  If  Thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  come  down  from 
the  Cross  "  ! 

But  in  the  same  way  He  was  deaf  not  only 
to  counsels  of  evil,  but  to  much  that  seemed 
legitimate.  Here,  also,  it  appears  as  if  many 
pleasant  voices  that  spoke  to  Him  might  have 
been  heeded  without  sin,  and  to  His  happiness. 
There  are  voices  we  think  ourselves  right  in 
heeding  which  He  might  have  heeded  too. 
His  life  might  have  been  richer,  easier,  more 
solaced,  but  He  made  sharp  choices  and  stern 
renunciations  and  swift  decisions,  and  so  the 
fulness  of  life  was  not  for  Him,  and  its  allure- 
ment and  appeal  were  vain. 


A  great,  and  on  the  whole  a  salutary,  change 
has  gradually  passed  over  Christian  thought. 
The  sphere  of  Christianity  has  been  enlarged  ; 


8       THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND 

the  Incarnation  has  been  accepted  as  the 
\  hallowing  of  all  life.  The  words,  *'  All  things 
are  yours,"  have  been  spoken  to  this  genera- 
tion with  a  new  force.  Religion  has  been 
claiming  its  rights,  or  rather  the  rights  of 
Christ,  in  every  field.  The  Christianity  that 
limited  and  restrained  itself,  that  refused  to 
enter  into  various  provinces  of  human  activity, 
and  would  not  take  advantage  of  the  develop- 
ments of  the  human  intellect  and  imagination, 
is  passing  away.  The  circumstances  in  which 
we  meet  to-day  are  a  proof  of  this.  We  say 
that  Christianity  must  be  taken  into  common 
life,  that  it  hallows  labour  and  our  scene  of 
labour.  We  insist  that  the  prayer,  *'  Thy 
kingdom  come,"  is  answered  by  the  trans- 
figuration of  the  human  in  every  department. 
It  was  thought,  for  example,  that  the  Christian 
should  severely  limit  his  possessions.  One  of 
the  most  spiritual  of  the  Bishops  says  that  he 
has  undertaken  the  administration  of  large 
means,  and  believes  that  the  cares  involved 
thereby  will  be  fertile  in  blessing.  We  say 
that    the     Christian,   and    even    the    Church, 


THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND      9 

should  interfere  in  the  arena  of  politics.  It  is 
said  that  the  power  of  love  as  the  basis  of  a 
State  has  never  been  tried,  and  that  it  must 
be  tried.  We  say  that  this  power  properly- 
applied  will  solve  the  problems  of  industrial 
competition.  Even  for  healthy  recreation  the 
support  and  encouragement  of  the  Church  are 
asked,  and  it  is  urged  that  this  sphere  also 
may  be  penetrated  by  the  spirit  of  Christ. 
Especially  it  is  claimed  that  Christianity  should 
annex  the  whole  field  of  art  and  literature. 
There  are  forms  of  literary  expression  which 
used  to  be  considered  incongruous  with  Chris- 
tianity. They  are  now  adopted  by  leading 
Christian  teachers,  and  made  to  a  certain 
extent  the  vehicle  of  strictly  Christian  thought. 
We  are  told  that  the  painter  in  order  to  serve 
Christ  does  not  need  to  leave  his  art.  His 
duty  is  to  remain  in  it  and  to  consecrate  it,  to 
give  to  God  the  glory  of  the  sky  which  He  has 
filled  with  so  pure  a  blue,  and  over  which  He 
has  thrown  the  pomp  of  His  canopy  of  clouds. 
We  say  to  the  business  man  that  he  is  to 
remain  in  his  business,  and   to  show  how  the 


10     THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND 

law  of  Christ  alters  the  conditions  of  human 
labour.  We  say  to  the  politician  that  he  is 
serving  Christ  directly  in  bringing  In  nobler 
manners  and  purer  laws.  We  urge  Christian 
people  to  take  part  In  politics,  not  to  hold  back 
from  them  as  If  they  belonged  merely  to  the 
world  that  is  passing  away,  but  to  make  the 
State  Christian  by  carrying  through  In  its 
legislation  the  will  of  Christ.  It  has  ever 
been  said  by  Bishop  Westcott  that  direct 
I  worship  is  a  small  part  of  life,  and  that  every 
human  office  needs  to  be  made  holy.  Especi- 
ally Is  this  true  In  the  association  of  art  with 
religion.  Art,  we  are  told,  Is  the  handmaid 
of  religion.  Our  services  should  be  beautiful 
and  rich  and  fervent ;  they  should  gratify  the 
artistic  sense.  We  are  to  worship  God  In  the 
beauty  of  noble  churches  ;  we  are  to  use  in  His 
praise  the  richest  resources  of  music.  I  think 
of  modern  Protestants  Ruskin  was  the  first,  in 
an  early  volume  of  Modern  Painters,  to  strike 
a  clear  note  on  this  subject,  with  reserve  and 
warning.  It  Is  true,  but  still  unmistakably. 
Now  we  can  see  the  change  that  has  passed 


THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND     ii 

over  our  eyes.  It  has  affected  the  forms  of 
worship  ;  it  has  affected  the  varieties  of  recrea- 
tion open  to  a  Christian.  It  has  even  en- 
larged the  sphere  of  occupations  in  which  a 
Christian  is  to  serve.  The  restrictions  that 
bound  our  fathers  are  more  and  more  falHng 
away,  and  so  far  as  they  exist  they  are  chafed 
against.  It  is  contended,  in  short,  that  every 
province  of  human  thought  and  activity  is 
accessible  to  the  mind  of  Christ. 


II 

That  this  drift  is,  upon  the  whole,  true  and 
Scriptural  I,  for  one,  believe.  Nevertheless, 
the  principle  has  to  be  severely  guarded  in  its 
application.  A  homely  illustration  will  perhaps 
make  my  meaning  clear.  Christians  of  old 
lived,  let  us  say,  in  a  bare  and  narrow  room, 
but  the  fire  of  faith  was  sufficient  to  warm  it. 
If  you  enlarge  the  room  as  you  are  doing,  if 
you  throw  into  it  one  space  after  another  till 
it  is  a  great  hall,  it  follows  that  the  fire  must 
be  increased.     If  it  be  not,  if  there  be  not  fire 


12     THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND 

enough  to  warm  it,  all  will  be  cold.  And  it 
must  be  the  true  fire  that  is  used  to  warm  it, 
not  a  fire  kindled  from  this  world.  We  think 
of  the  objections  of  our  ancestors  to  the  use, 
let  us  say,  of  organs  in  worship.  They  may 
seem  in  the  light  of  these  days  absurd  enough. 
But  the  real  objection  lay  behind  the  alleged 
arguments,  and  is  still  worthy  of  our  deep 
respect  and  consideration.  Our  fathers  be- 
;  lieved  that  every  means  of  worship  must  be 
!  kept  subordinate  to  the  real  end  of  worship. 
They  were  willingly  deaf  and  blind  to  many 
things  which  we  now  see  and  hear,  because 
they  believed  that  the  price  demanded  for 
seeing  and  hearing  was  too  great  to  pay.  The 
worship  that  is  in  spirit  and  in  truth  must 
always  mean  a  distinct  and  serious  effort  of  the 
will.  It  is  pleasant  to  take  up  a  book  and  be 
caught  away  from  the  first  sentence  on  to  the 
end,  to  be  compelled  to  read,  to  have  no 
struggle  and  no  thought.  It  is  pleasant  to 
hear  a  great  orator  and  to  be  taken  captive 
by  his  voice,  not  to  think  how  the  time  is 
passing  until  he  has  ended,  and  then  to  feel 


THE  LORUS  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND     13 


that    it   has    flown.     The  resources  of  art    in 

worship  can  be  used  to  gratify  the  senses  so 

that  to  be  present  is  a  pleasure,  even  though 

there  is  no  true  worship  and  though  nothing 

has  been  received.     But  without  the  nerving 

and  bracing  of  the  will  there  is  no  acceptable 

sacrifice  to   God.     Our   Lord    Himself  issued 

the    commandment   to   hear :  "  He    that  hath 

ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear."     Many  worshippers 

nowadays  think  that  this  is  not  necessary,  that 

it  is   the   business  of  the  preacher  to  compel 

them   to  hear.     Yet  nothing  is  more   certain 

than   this,   that   to  profit  by  serious   religious 

instruction  the  mind  and  will  of  the  hearer,  as 

well  as  the  mind  and  will  of  the  preacher,  must 

be    active.      And   so    in    the    same   way,    if  a 

church  service  becomes  a  musical  treat,  it  has 

ceased  to  be  the  worship  that   God   requires. 

It  is  well  for  us  to  enlarge  our  liberty,  if  we 

are  sure  that  the  supreme  end  of  worship   is 

not  being  missed.      If  it  is  missed,  then  I  had 

rather  the  humblest  and  barest  meeting-place, 

the  rudest  music,  and  the  plainest  speech.     If 

a  babble  of  voices  drowns  the   Name  that  is 


14     THE  LORDS  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND 

above  every  name,  it  is  time  for  us  to  draw 
back.  Let  us  at  least  understand  and  respect 
what  our  fathers  meant,  for  what  they  had  to 
do  we  have  to  do  in  our  own  way — to  be  always 
retreating  to  the  centre,  to  see  that  the  room 
in  which  we  dwell  is  not  too  large  for  our  fire 
to  warm  it,  to  prune  our  desires  and  tastes, 
and  to  make  everything  subordinate  to  the 
true  and  inward  and  spiritual  service  of  God 
in  Christ. 

Ill 

Let  us  ask  ourselves  whether  the  atmo- 
sphere is  warmer.  That  is  the  test  of  church 
progress.  We  can  go  as  far  as  ever  we  please 
in  the  direction  of  elaborate  worship,  if  this 
is  so.  Let  us  not  hesitate  to  annex  the 
various  provinces  of  recreation  and  amusement, 
if  we  find  that  the  fire  of  our  faith  radiates 
through  them  and  fills  them.  Let  us  take  a 
vehement  part  if  we  please  in  politics,  so  far 
as  this  does  not  impair  the  quality  of  our 
Christian  life.  Let  us  cultivate  the  intellect 
and  the  imagination  as  much  as  we  can,  and 


THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND     15 


intermeddle  if  we  please  with  all  knowledge, 
so  long  as  we  continue  to  grow  in  grace. 
Let  us  not  be  afraid  of  anything,  whatever 
it  be,  that  ministers  to  the  energy  of  our  life 
in  Christ.  But  I  suspect  that  most  of  us  have 
to  restrict  ourselves  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven's  sake.  Most  of  us,  if  we  are  to  enter 
into  life,  must  enter  more  or  less  maimed. 
Most  of  us  have  to  be  deaf  and  blind  to 
solicitations  which  stronger  people  might  obey 
innocently  enough.  No  one  in  recent  years 
has  preached  more  powerfully  the  hallowing 
of  the  common  life  than  the  late  Dr.  Dale 
of  Birmingham.  He  was  eager  and  strenuous 
for  many  years  as  a  preacher,  as  a  student, 
as  a  social  reformer,  and  as  a  politician.  Yet 
in  the  end  of  his  life  he  came  to  the  con- 
clusion, wrongly  perhaps,  that  he  would  have 
done  more  and  been  more  if  he  had  kept 
himself  more  closely  to  the  work  of  a  Christian 
minister.  Yes,  we  have  to  be  deaf  and  blind  ; 
but  we  need  not  grudge  it,  for  the  time  is 
coming  when,  in  the  other  life,  all  our  energies 
will  find  free  scope.     A  character  in  a  recent 


i6     THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND 

novel  was  accustomed  to  say  about  some 
blessing  that  it  must  come  soon.  Her  mouth 
was  made  up  for  it.  Her  friend  replied  that 
this  world  is  just  for  us  to  make  up  our  mouths 
in,  and  the  next  is  for  filling  them.  We  can 
forgo  what  has  to  be  forgone,  if  we  look 
up  to  the  heaven  that  darkles  and  shines 
above  us,  and  remember  that  all  things  will 
there  come  back  and  be  present  again  except 
repented  and  forgiven  sin. 

It  is  good  to  be  last,  not  first, 

Pending  the  present  distress  ; 
It  is  good  to  hunger  and  thirst, 

So  it  be  for  righteousness. 
It  is  good  to  spend  and  be  spent ; 

It  is  good  to  watch  and  to  pray ; 
Life  and  death  make  a  goodly  Lent, 

So  it  leads  us  to  Easter  Day. 

IV 

For,  after  all,  one  thing,  and  only  one,   is 

needful.       How    have  you    been    led    in   life  ? 

Who  are  the  people  who  have  most  profoundly 

influenced  you  ?     For  whom  has  your  reverence 

/been  deepest,  most  bending  }     They  have  not 


THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND     17 

been,  I  venture  to  say,  the  clever,  the  brilliant, 
the  accomplished.  They  have  been  the  wise 
— wise  with  a  wisdom  that  cometh  only  from 
the  Lord,  and  only  to  the  children  of  the  king- 
dom. It  is  they  who  are  always  right,  who 
always  seem  to  know  what  we  should  do,  who 
enter  the  sheepfold  by  the  door,  while  others 
climb  up  their  own  way.  They  do  not  reach 
their  end  through  long  and  toilsome  reason- 
ings. They  have  the  power  of  strange, 
straight  vision,  which  sees  right  through  all 
mystery  and  bewilderment  to  the  truth  as  it 
really  is.  They  are  children  to  the  last, 
whether  they  be  old  or  young.  I  heard  a 
preacher  once  tell  of  such  a  child.  Her 
parents  were  so  poor  that  they  sometimes 
could  not  provide  her  mid -day  meal.  But 
she  went  to  school  and  learned  to  sing  and 
pray,  learned  to  believe  things  out  of  keeping 
with  her  sad  little  experience,  and  so  to  say 
a  hearty  grace  over  her  dry  crust.  After  one 
day  of  pain  Jesus  took  her  into  His  more 
immediate  keeping,  and  she  knew  the  secret 
of  eternity.     How  did  she  find  it  then?     Had 


i8     THE  LORD'S  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND 

she  been  right  or  wrong,  foolish  or  wise  ? 
Had  the  Redeemer  played  the  child  false  ? 
Nay,  verily ;  yet  on  earth  she  had  been 
hungry,  and  found  things  hard  and  painful. 
What  faculty  was  it,  then,  enabled  her  to  span 
the  gulf  and  unravel  the  perplexity  and  believe 
in  God  the  Father  Almighty,  when  she  hardly 
received  at  His  hands  even  a  sufficiency  of 
daily  bread?  It  was  the  power  of  vision.  It 
was  that  combination  of  the  child's  heart  with 
the  man's  understanding  which  makes  the 
great,  whether  hero,  or  doctor,  or  saint.  It 
was  the  spirit  to  which  the  belief  in  vaster 
worlds,  spaces,  powers,  wisdom,  love  is  not 
intolerable,  which  does  not  take  itself  for  the 
centre  or  measure  of  things,  which  dreams, 
and  hopes,  and  waits,  and  prays.  St.  Paul, 
the  most  intellectual  of  the  Apostles,  writing 
to  the  most  intellectual  of  believers,  warned 
them  repeatedly  against  the  wisdom  of  the 
world.  He  had  added  to  his  wisdom  the 
child's  heart,  without  which  all  is  vain,  and 
which  is  not  of  the  childish  things  that  are 
to  be  put  away. 


THE  LORDS  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND     19 

So   in   the  end   we   are   to  be  blind  to  all 
things    in    comparison    with    the    beauty    of 
Christ,  deaf  to  all  voices  but  His  own.      It  is 
for  this  we  seek  the  House  of  God — to  hear 
the  call  which  the  world  through  the  week  is 
trying  to  drown,  in  the  hush   of  the  Sabbath 
day.      Let   us  hear  this  call  in  its  sweetness    \ 
and  its  awe  this  morning.     "  Come  unto  Me,     r 
all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I     1 
will  give  you  rest."     It  is  ringing  now. 

Far,  far  away,  like  bells  at  evening  pealing. 
The  voice  of  Jesus  sounds  o'er  land  and  sea. 

And  laden  souls,  by  thousands  meekly  stealing. 
Kind  Shepherd,  turn  their  weary  steps  to  Thee. 

Remember  He  was  never  deaf  and  never 
blind  when  a  soul  sought  Him.  Behold,  the 
Lord's  ear  is  not  heavy  that  it  cannot  hear, 
neither  is  His  arm  shortened  that  it  cannot 
save.  Remember  Him  on  the  Cross  in  a 
strait  where  two  seas  met.  Deep  called  to 
deep,  the  sea  of  misery  to  the  sea  of  mercy. 
The  Lord's  ear  was  very  heavy,  but  not 
heavy  that  it  could  not  hear  the  thief.  His  | 
arm   was  shortened,  nailed  to  the  wood,  but 


20     THE  LORDS  SERVANT  DEAF  AND  BLIND 

not  shortened  that  it  could  not  save.  That 
day  the  Lord  and  the  thief  were  together  in 
the  new  country.  If  thou  seek  Him  He  will 
be  found  of  thee.  Before  we  speak  He  calls 
that  we  may  turn  round  to  Him  and  say, 
"  When  Thou  saidst,  Seek  ye  My  Face,  my 
heart  said  unto  Thee,  Thy  Face,  Lord,  will  I 
seek." 


''WHATSOEVER   THOU    SPENDEST 

MORE"i 

Whatsoever  thou  spendest  more. — Luke  x.  35. 

"  Whatsoever  thou  spendest  more."  A 
tenderer  light  is  thrown  upon  the  story  by  the 
carefulness  of  the  good  Samaritan.  He  did 
not  take  out  a  handful  of  money,  but  two 
pence.  He  promised  that  if  more  was  spent 
he  would  pay  it  back.  This  was  probably  one 
of  the  innumerable  cases  of  the  poor  helping 
the  poor,  a  case  in  which  the  gift  was  sacrificial. 
We  shall  take  the  words  as  suggesting  the 
four  stages  in  Christian  service. 

I 

The    Christian  service   commences   with  a 
provision.       He  took  out  two  pence  and  gave 

1  Sermon  preached  in  Carr's  Lane  Chapel,  Birmingham,  on  behalf 
of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Missionary  Society  (Birmingham  and 
Shrewsbury  District),  1899. 

21 


22     "  WHA  TSOE  VER  THO  U  SPENDEST  MORE  » 

them  to  the  host.  Whatever  our  charge  may 
be,  at  the  beginning  it  seems  easy.  A  man 
undertakes  the  reclamation  of  a  drunkard. 
The  pledge  is  signed,  and  for  a  little  every- 
thing seems  to  go  well,  and  there  is  a  glow  in 
the  heart  of  the  succourer  and  the  succoured. 
A  young  girl  begins  a  class  in  a  ragged  school, 
and  there  is  a  romance  and  glamour  about  the 
children,  and  in  her  own  heart  a  true  spring  of 
life  which  will  meet  her  needs  for  a  time. 
A  young  minister  is  set  in  charge  of  a  congre- 
gation, and  how  beautiful  is  the  beginning,  how 
eager  even  the  world-worn  and  weary  are  to 
listen  to  the  youthful  preacher,  how  they  believe 
in  him,  in  his  singleness  of  heart,  and  rejoice 
in  his  true  vision  of  God  !  How  he  believes 
in  them,  and  how  impossible  it  is  for  him  to 
imagine  that  one  day  there  will  be  cold  looks 
and  colder  hearts  !  We  turn  back  to  such  begin- 
nings when  the  morning  was  fresh  with  dew, 
when  the  spirit  was  buoyant,  when  the  wind  of 
life  sang  freshly  in  our  ears,  when  there  was 
about  us  the  ravishment  and  the  mystery  of 
youth,  when  it  seemed  as  if  no  task  was  too  hard 


"  WHA  TSOE  VER  THO  U  SPEND  EST  MORE  "     23 

for  US  to  undertake,  when  we  never  dreamed 
that  the  day  would  come  when  we  should  say,  \ 
"  I  am  tired  ;  I  am  not  well ;  the  climb  is  too  \ 
steep."  There  was  more  than  the  mere  fresh- 
ness of  the  morning.  There  was  besides  a 
kind  provision  by  Christ.  He  gave  us  His 
two  pence,  and  we  joyfully  received  them,  and 
gladly  gave  them  away,  but  we  did  not  realise 
that  the  time  would  come  when  they  would  be 
exhausted,  and  we  should  have  to  look  up  for 
more. 

Yes,  we  are  told  to  count  the  cost,  and  in 
a  certain  way  we  do ;  but  in  Christian  service 
we  can  never  count  the  cost,  never  realise  all 
that  is  implied  in  the  first  covenant.  Even 
to  charge  oneself  with  one  frail  soul — who  can 
tell  what  that  may  mean  }  But  to  charge  our- 
selves with  many,  to  fling  ourselves  against 
heathendom,  to  continue  the  battle  for  years 
and  years — nothing  but  experience  will  tell  us 
what  is  involved  in  that.  ''  There  are  times  in 
a  missionary's  life,"  said  David  Hill,  "when 
the  sense  of  loneliness,  the  keen  want  of  human  \ 
sympathy,  cuts  home  like  a  bleak  and   bitter  I 


24     "  WHATSOEVER  THOU  SPENDEST  MORE'' 


east  wind."     Said  one  saint  who  accomplished 

a  great  work,  **  I  knew  nothing  of  the  labour 

!    and  anxiety  of  this  task  when  I   first  had  to  do 

\    with  you.     It  has  grown  upon  me  with  know- 

;    ledge  ;  it  has  increased  upon  me   that  sense  of 

\   difficulty,  till  now,  if  I  did  not  look  quite  away 

:    from  myself  and  to  Him  only  Who  is  able  to 

'    do  exceedingly  abundantly  above   all  we   ask 

or  think,  I   should  often  despair."     And  there 

is  this  utterance  among  many  from  the  bravest 

apostolic  heart,   ''  I  have  been  pressed  out  of 

measure,  above  strength,  so  that  I  despaired." 

We  remember  how   Love   Himself,  Victorious 

Love,  was  cast  as  low  as  the  ground    in  the 

Garden  of  Gethsemane. 

II 

The  second  stage  of  Christian  service  is 
when  we  find  at  last  that  the  two  pence  are 
spent.  It  is  not  merely  that  the  holding  charm 
of  youth  passes  from  us,  that  the  early  confi- 
dence and  triumph  diminish,  that  the  deep  under- 
tone of  pain  makes  itself  heard.  It  is  also  that 
the  two  pence  are  spent.      That  gladsome  first 


"  WHATSOEVER  THOU  SPENDEST  MORE''     25 

vision  of  the  Gospel,  that  undying  sense  of  its 
power  to  save,  the  trustfulness  and  the  hope 
with  which  we  first  preached  it,  the  intense 
love  for  fellow  believers — these  are  not  with 
us  as  they  were.  Men  have  disappointed  us, 
and  we  have  disappointed  them.  They  have 
disappointed  us.  Alexander  has  done  us 
much  evil,  Demus  has  forsaken  us,  having  loved 
this  present  world.  It  has  seemed  almost  as  \{ 
our  way  were  hid  from  the  Lord,  and  our  judg- 
ment passed  over  from  our  God.  At  the  very 
least  our  early  frankness  of  trust  is  shaken. 
We  say  with  Christ,  '*  Will  ye  also  go  away  1 " 
and  it  would  not  be  much  of  a  surprise  if  all 
forsook  us  and  fled.  In  order  to  love  mankind, 
to  quote  the  sombre  French  maxim  much  in 
favour  with  John  Morley,  you  must  expect  little  \ 
from  them.  It  is  not  a  Christian  saying.  In  ! 
order  to  love  mankind  you  must  expect  much 
from  them  ;  in  order  to  love  a  soul  you  must 
imagine  it  as  it  will  be,  without  spot  or  wrinkle 
or  any  such  thing,  the  heir  of  eternal  life,  the 
conquering  son  of  God.  But  before  this  expect- 
ation is  realised,  it  will  be  sorely  tried.      Men    l. 


26     "  WHATSOEVER  THOU  SPENDEST  MORE'' 

are  disappointed  with  us.  No  call  comes  to  a 
higher  sphere.  What  we  had  to  say  seems  to 
have  been  said,  and  men  are  weary  of  it.  The 
day  of  the  Lord  has  fallen  upon  all  pleasant 
pictures,  and  the  glow  of  youth  has  gone  from 
them.  How  pleasant  were  the  pictures  of 
the  beginning,  when  we  were  left  with  the 
sufferer  in  the  inn,  and  with  the  provision,  and 
with  the  half- heard  word  of  grace !  What 
dreams  we  had  of  devoutness,  of  holiness,  of 
success,  of  perfect  unity,  love  and  concord ! 
What  dreams  we  had  of  our  own  ascending, 
and  oh,  how  far  short  we  are  of  what  we 
looked  to  be  and  might  have  been  !  It  seems 
now  as  if  a  stern  and  grey  day  of  the  Lord 
had  come  down  upon  the  once  roseate  life,  and 
made  it  poor  and  cold.  This  is  the  true  crisis 
in  the  life  of  the  Christian  servant,  none  the 
less  real  because  it  is  so  little  spoken  of. 

We  are  not  allowed  to  die,  and  we  must  not 

give  up.     We  are  not  allowed  to  die,  although 

it  is  always  better  in  a  sense  for  the  Christian 

to  die  than  to  live.     Yet  it  is  always  better  to 

f\  live  so  long  as  we  can  do  God's  will  and  God's 


''  WHATSOEVER  THOU  SPENDEST  MORE"    27 

work,  and  we  can  do  it,  though  in  another  «; 
fashion.  It  is  not  as  it  was  with  us  at  the 
beginning.  Dreams  may  be  dispersed,  hopes 
may  have  grown  chill,  efforts  may  have  failed, 
love  may  have  been  lost,  and  goodness  may 
have  been  trodden  down.  No  longer  do  we 
walk  on  the  green  paths,  no  longer  are  we 
admired  or  applauded.  At  the  best  there  is 
before  us  the  dusty  road  of  common  duty, 
and  it  may  be  that  the  burning  sand  of  the 
desert  is  beneath  our  feet.  And  yet  we  are 
not  going  to  give  up.  There  is  something 
in  the  Christian  heart  that  silently  protests. 
'*  I    think    I    have   done    enough,    and    yet    I 

should  like "  ''  And  yet  I  should  like " 

That  is  the  undertone  that  will  save  us.  It 
is  with  that  feeling  by  God's  grace  that  we 
may  be  able  to  turn  the  battle  at  the  gates. 
Forts  which  temptation  never  reached  before 
are  now  attacked,  but  we  will  not  suffer  them 
to  be  carried.  And  if  we  understood  it,  this 
is  just  the  point  when  the  nobler  life  begins, 
the  point  when  the  two  pence  are  spent,  and 
when  we  are   left  with   Christ  and  with   His 


28    "  WHATSOEVER  THOU  SPENDEST  MORE'' 

good  word.     For  then  we   begin  the  road   of 
I   self-sacrifice,  and  set  our  faces   steadfastly  to 
i  go  to  Jerusalem.      Beautiful  is  the  untried  and 
sanguine    love   of  youth,    beautiful    is    its    in- 
stinctive choice  of  the  noble  and  the  pure  ;  but 
L  more  beautiful  the  love  that  has   been  salted 
by  fire,  and  the  righteousness  that  has  endured 
hardness.     Life  is   sterner,  but  to  the  eye  of 
Christ  it  may  be  clothed  with  a  diviner  beauty 
than  that  which  has  faded  for  ever. 

There  is  a  point  up  to  which  Christ  can 
say  to  His  servants,  ''  Ye  have  not  yet  resisted 
unto  blood,  ye  have  not  yet  known  what  true 
sacrifice  means."  Perhaps  He  says  that  of 
many  to  the  very  end  :  but  He  does  not  say 
it  of  His  chosen  vessels.  *'  I  will  show  him," 
He  said  of  Saul,  "  how  great  things  he  must 
suffer  for  My  name's  sake"  —  not  how  great 
things  he  must  say  or  do  for  Me,  but  how 
^great  things  he  must  bear.  Without  shedding 
of  blood  there  is  no  entrance  into  the  higher 
life.  In  a  manner  the  Lord's  experience  is 
spiritually  repeated  by  the  Christian.  We  die 
into  the  deeper  union    with   Christ,  into  the 


"  WHATSOEVER  THOU  SPENDEST  MORE''     29 

profounder   life,   through    the    offering    up   of 
ourselves  upon  the  altar. 


Ill 

The  third  stage,  then,  is  when  we  discover 
that  in  the  fellowship  of  Christ's  sufferings 
we  have  the  power  of  His  resurrection.  It  is  ' 
that  fellowship  which  St.  Paul,  after  years  of- 
endurance,  still  prayed  that  he  might  know.  ' 
We  discover  that  in  the  spending  we  are  en-  : 
riched  from  the  unsearchable  stores  of  Christ. 

Through  the  surrender  of  self-love  and  self 
we  come  into  that  sunlight  which  steeps  even 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  into  the 
peace  that  is  like  a  river  and  the  righteousness 
which  is  as  the  waves  of  the  sea.  We  begin 
like  Christ  with  preaching,  and  we  go  on  till 
it  comes  to  strong  crying  and  tears,  and  at  last 
to  dying.  But  the  life  that  pours  itself  out  is 
ever  receiving  new  streams  of  force,  and  is 
richer  for  what  it  loses.  If  we  go  on  growing, 
the  last  years  may  be  in  a  sense  the  saddest 
years,  and  yet  they  may  be  the  noblest  and 


30    '' WHATSOEVER  THOU  SPENDEST  MORE'' 

the  most  constant  years,  and  in  the  deepest 
sense  the  most  joyous.  You  have  read  the 
Hfe  of  Dr.  Dale,  and  you  may  have  said, 
''  How  sad  are  these  last  years,  how  much 
better  it  would  have  been  if  his  fellowships 
had  remained  inviolate,  and  if  he  had  seen  the 
measures  which  he  so  passionately  advocated 
carried  through  in  triumph  !  "  I  do  not  know. 
The  closing  years  of  his  life  may  have  been 
sadder  years  in  a  sense,  but  they  were  perhaps 
more  noble,  more  constant,  more  faithful  years. 
They  were  years  assuredly  when  he  entered 
into  a  deeper  fellowship  with  Christ,  and  if 
that  was  granted  all  the  rest  might  go.  It  is 
when  we  climb  the  steeps  of  the  hill  Difficulty 
that  we  come  to  our  best.  What  art  thou, 
O  great  mountain  .^  Before  Zerubbabel  thou 
shalt  become  a  plain.  Oh  !  may  the  promise 
come  true.  In  this  mountain,  bare,  and 
bleak,  and  wind-grieved,  shall  the  Lord  of 
Hosts  make  a  feast  of  fat  things. 

The  work  is  not  done,  the  sufferer  is  still 
unhealed.  What  then  '^  We  have  to  go  on 
spending.       Our    Lord    knew    it,    hinted    it — 


"  IVHA  TSOE  VER  THO  U  S PEN  BEST  MORE  "     3 1 


"Whatsoever  thou   spendest  more."      In  the 
beginning  we  missed  these  words,  we  did  not 
recognise   their   significance,  but   now  day  by 
day  as   it  passes  makes  the  meaning  clearer. 
Yes,  we  must  spend  more  and  more  and  more, 
stripping  the   garments   from  us  one   by  one, 
and   at   last   spending   our  very  heart's  blood. 
But  it  is  in  that  spending  that  we  are  enriched. 
It  is  in  that  spending  that  we  become  conscious 
at  last  that  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ 
are  ours,  the  riches  that  will  never  give  out. 
If  when  the  two  pence  are  spent  we  cease  to 
spend,   if  we  go   back  upon   the  past,   if  we 
repeat  old  words  that  have  lost  their  freshness, 
if  we  do  our  tasks  slackly,  then  we  are  already 
dead.      But  if  we  go  on  working  and  working 
at  greater   cost,   then   we    shall   at  last    come 
to  understand  the   saying  that  verges  on  the 
unsayable,   not   on   the    unintelligible,    "  I   am 
crucified  with   Christ ;  nevertheless   I   live,  yet 
not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 


32     "  IVHA  TSOE  VER  THO  U.  SPENDEST  MORE  " 

IV 

The  last  stage  of  Christian  service  is 
reached  when  we  suddenly  find  ourselves  in 
the  land  of  Beulah.  Christ  has  been  with 
us  all  the  years,  pouring  His  own  life  into 
the  barren  river-beds  of  ours.  Then  of  a 
sudden  we  seem  to  behold  the  Lord  at  hand, 
and  to  hear  Him  saying,  "  I  will  repay  thee." 
No  more  than  that.  The  host  had  just  the 
good  Samaritan's  word,  and  he  was  content. 
Christ  will  come  again,  and  when  He  comes 
He  will  repay  us.  The  mouth  of  the  Lord 
hath  spoken  it,  and  we  are  to  live  in  the 
strength  of  the  promise.  Dr.  Dale  has  told 
us  that  at  one  point  of  his  ministry  he  read 
the  New  Testament  over  to  see  whether 
there  was  any  great  aspect  of  revealed  truth 
which  he  was  neglecting  in  his  ministry.  He 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  ignoring 
the  repeated  promises  of  reward  given  in 
the  Gospel.  Human  sympathy  and  joy  and 
praise  are  very  sweet,  but  we  can  live  with- 
out them  if  we   have   before   us  the  welcome 


"  WHATSOEVER  THOU  SPENDEST  MORE''     33 

of  the  Eternal.  You  cannot  read  the  New 
Testament  without  seeing  that  the  Apostles 
fulfilled  with  tenfold  vigour  the  tasks  of  life 
just  because  they  had  before  them  always  and 
so  clearly  the  guerdon  of  the  future.  It  would 
fill  the  Christian  Church  with  new  wine  to 
conceive  as  vividly  as  they  conceived  the 
sure  and  everlasting  prize  for  which  we  are 
running.  '*  I  will  repay  thee."  No  matter 
how  scant  our  wages  here,  how  grudged,  how 
delayed,  He  is  sure  to  bless.  We  may  feel 
that  the  least  reward  from  His  hands  will 
be  enough.  We  may  not  strive  after  the 
brightest  crown  and  the  dearest  expectation  ; 
we  may  be  content  if  He  will  but  keep  His 
promise,  ''  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give 
to  sit  with  Me."  We  hardly  need  to  proceed 
and  say  '*on  My  throne,"  for  wherever  He 
sits,  there  is  the  throne.  Yet  is  not  that 
enough — is  it  not  the  best  ?  What  is  it  in  life 
that  is  most  blessed  ?  Surely  there  is  nothing 
in  life  half  so  sweet  as  the  fellowship  of  the 
beloved.  There  is  nothing  in  heaven  half 
so  sweet  and   great    and   dear.      Among   the 

D 


34     "  WHATSOEVER  THOU  SPENDEST  MORE'' 

promises  of  the    reward,   this  one   is   perhaps 
above  the  rest,  *'  To  him  that  overcometh  will 
I  grant  to  sit  with  Me."     To  fall  back  again 
on  the  prophetic  word,  may  we   not  say  that 
it  is  when  things  seem  dead  against  us,  when 
we    are    buffeting    the    wind    and    rain,    when 
no  man   knows  us,   when  our   store   is   spent, 
when  we  are  at  the  hardest  point  of  the  hill 
Difficulty,    that    the    rapture    of  the    invisible 
discloses  itself,  and  we  cry,  "  There  is  nothing 
for  me  here."      But  there  is  everything,  and 
He  is  not  far  off.     For  it  is  written,  "In  this 
mountain    He    shall    destroy  the    face   of  the 
covering  cast  over  all  people  and  the  veil  that 
is  spread  over  all  nations."     He  shall  destroy 
the  face  of  the  covering — not  merely  tear  it  in 
two,  but    destroy  it    every  fragment,  so    that 
there   may   be   clear  vision    for   ever.      What 
was   once    a   wall    between    us    and    the    next 
world  has  become  a  trembling  screen.      One 
day  before  we  die  there  will  not  be  left  even 
so  much  as  this.     '*  Could  we  but  climb  where 
Moses  stood  !  "     We  may  climb  at  last.     The 
transcendent  revelation  of  the  future  is  given 


"  IVffA  TSOE  VER  THO  U  SPENDES  T  MORE  "     3  5 

to  US  when  we  are  spending  most,  when  the 
life-blood  of  the  soul  drops  like  rain. 

Do  you  understand  Bunyan's  parable  of 
Beulah  ?  Why  is  Beulah,  Beulah  ?  Because 
the  pilgrims  were  within  sight  of  the  city  they 
were  going  to,  the  ancient  city  of  our  thoughts 
and  loves  and  hopes.  They  saw  its  towers 
and  temples,  and  mingled  with  its  people,  for 
in  this  land  the  Shining  Ones  commonly 
walked.  They  saw  it  nearer  and  nearer,  and 
with  desire  fell  sick.  It  does  not  matter 
where  on  the  shore  of  the  dwindled  river 
we  die.  What  can  it  matter  whether  it  is 
China  or  India  or  England.  William  Burns 
died  preaching  the  redeeming  love  of  Christ 
to  the  Chinese  assistants  by  his  bedside. 
When  they  looked  for  his  property  they 
found  a  Chinese  and  English  Bible,  an  old 
writing  -  case,  a  Chinese  lantern,  a  single 
Christian  dress,  and  a  blue  flag  of  the  Gospel 
boat.  That  was  all.  "  Surely,"  said  a  child 
in  the  awestruck  silence,  "■  he  must  have  been 
very  poor." 

So  in  the  ministry  of  Christian  service  the 


36    "  WHATSOEVER  THOU  SPENDEST  MORE'' 

last  is  the  best.  It  may  be  best  with  us  long 
after  the  two  pence  are  spent,  when  we  are 
spending  more  and  more,  and  yet  spending 
far  more  consciously  than  before  what  is  not 
ours  by  nature.  The  promise  marks  an 
ascent,  though  it  may  not  seem  to  do  so. 
"  They  shall  mount  up  on  wings  as  eagles." 
There  is  a  better  thing,  '*  They  shall  run 
and  not  be  weary  "  ;  and  best  of  all  there  is 
this,  '*They  shall  walk  and  not  faint."  It 
is  the  climax  of  covenant  grace. 

So  as  of  old  I  follow  Him, 

Only  another  way ; 
When  the  lights  of  the  world  are  growing  dim, 
And  my  heart  already  is  singing  the  hymn 

Of  twilight  grown  to  day. 


NOT   AFRAID   OF    SACKCLOTH^ 

None  might  enter  into  the  king's  gate  clothed  with  sack- 
cloth.— Esther  iv.  2. 

Seeing  then  that  we  have  such  hope,  we  use  great  plainness 
of  speech. — 11  CoR.  iii.  12. 

In  the  Book  of  Esther  iv.  2,  we  read,  "  None 
might  enter  into  the  king's  gate  clothed  with 
sackcloth."  St.  Paul  in  his  Second  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians  iii.  12  says,  ''  Seeing  then 
that  we  have  such  hope,  we  use  great  plain- 
ness of  speech."  In  the  first  text  we  read  of 
a  refusal  to  face  the  facts  of  life,  the  hard  and 
painful  facts — "  None  might  enter  into  the 
king's  gate  clothed  in  sackcloth."  In  the 
second  we  read  of  an  unflinching  sincerity  of 
vision,  and  of  a  sincerity  which  does  not  flinch 

^  Sermon  preached  before  the  Methodist  New  Connexion  Con- 
ference in  Salem  Chapel,  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  Tuesday,  June  12,  1900. 

37 


38  NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH 


because  it  is  armed  by  a  great  hope — ''  Seeing 
then  that  we  have  such  hope,  we  use  great 
plainness  of  speech." 

There  are  three  ways  in  which  we  may 
deal  with  the  harder  things  of  life.  First  of 
all,  we  may  take  the  way  of  the  Eastern  king 
and  resolve  not  to  see  them,  to  bar  the  door 
against  them,  to  act  as  if  they  did  not  exist. 
There  is  a  second  way.  We  may  face  them 
without  the  Christian  hope.  There  is  a  third 
way.  We  may  face  them  with  the  Christian 
hope,  and  that  is  the  true  and  only  wisdom. 
Let  us  dwell  for  a  moment  on  those  three 
ways  or  methods. 

I 

We  may  close  the  eyes  and  the  ears,  and 
say  that  we  will  not  look  upon  the  things  that 
affright  and  affront  us.  "  None  might  enter 
the  king's  gate  clothed  in  sackcloth."  We 
know  what  that  leads  to,  that  life  lived  in  an 
unreal  world,  in  a  world  of  imagination.  We 
know  what  it  has  done  in  history  through 
all    the    ages.     Our   fathers    looked   upon   the 


NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH  39 

French  Revolution  as  a  mere  outbreak  of  the 
spirits  of  hell.  Considering  the  matter  with 
fuller  knowledge,  we  see  that  the  storm  was 
provoked  by  a  long  course  of  crime  and  folly, 
by  a  persistent  deafness  to  the  harsh  discords 
of  humanity.  Rulers  who  believed  that  they 
existed  for  nothing  but  their  own  pleasure 
were  destroyed  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth 
as  a  sign  to  mankind.  It  was  the  blindness 
of  the  rulers  that  roused  the  madness  of  the 
people.  We  may  close  the  doors  and  curtain 
the  windows  and  hide,  as  it  were,  our  faces 
from  misery,  but  it  is  in  vain.  The  flaring 
lights  flicker,  the  storm  outside  begins  to 
mutter  and  to  break,  and  the  inexorable  call 
comes,  and  we  have  to  open  our  eyes  and 
look  out  on  the  woe  and  the  wrong  and  the 
torture  of  this  world,  on  all  the  wretchedness 
that  is  rising  against  us  to  sweep  us  from 
our  place.  Nor  by  any  decree  can  we  keep 
from  our  homes  the  antagonists  of  peace. 
Treachery  will  enter,  and  be  a  fire  in  the 
heart ;  love  will  come  in,  and  be  a  misery  ; 
bereavement   will   follow,  and    take    the   light 


40  NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH 

from  life.  In  other  words,  even  the  king 
cannot  keep  his  gate  against  the  dark  ministers 
of  pain  that  insist  upon  an  entrance,  and  will 
force  it  at  last. 

II 

We  may  look  willingly  or  unwillingly  at  the 
facts  of  life  without  any  hope  in  Christ.  I  will 
not  speak  of  those,  and  there  are  many,  who 
look  upon  the  agony  of  the  world  simply  to 
find  in  it  the  opportunity  of  new  sensation. 
We  have  read  of  women  flaunting  over  the 
stricken  field  of  war,  and  they  have  been 
visited  with  a  righteous  condemnation.  When, 
many  years  ago,  attention  was  forced  on 
the  unspeakable  degradations  of  London 
life,  there  was  a  pastime  called  slumming 
which  actually  became  fashionable.  A  bastard 
sentimentalism  joined  to  a  prurient  curiosity 
took  many  to  see  under  what  conditions  life 
was  lived  in  East  London.  There  was  at  the 
back  of  It  no  truth,  no  sincerity,  and  it  soon 
passed  away,  leaving  hearts  that  were  already 
as  hard   as   the  nether  millstone  harder  still, 


NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH  41 

if  that  were  possible.  I  wish  to  speak  rather 
of  the  hopeless,  earnest,  despairing  outlook  on 
the  miseries  of  life.  There  are  those  like  the 
poet  whose  hearts  become  as 

A  nerve  o'er  which  do  creep 

The  else  unfelt  oppressions  of  the  world. 

They  meditate  upon  sin  and  grief  and  death, 
upon  the  vast  sum  of  human  woe,  upon  their 
little  and  slow  means  for  diminishing  it,  till 
the  heart  spends  itself  in  fierce  and  hopeless 
throbs.  The  thought  beats  upon  the  brain 
like  as  on  an  anvil.  Yet  all  becomes  at  last  so 
commonplace  and  so  sad  and  so  far  beyond 
remedy.  The  waves  of  mournful  thought 
cannot  be  stemmed,  but  they  flow  in  vain. 
The  end  is  at  best  a  quiet  misery. 

But  now  despair  itself  is  mild, 

Even  as  the  winds  and  waters  are  \ 

I  could  lie  down  like  a  tired  child, 
And  weep  away  this  life  of  care. 

At  worst  it  is  a  passionate  and  vain  rebellion. 
It  was  said  about  three  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished among  French  social  reformers  that 


42  NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH 


\ 


i 


they  all  of  them  at  last  died  of  their  wounds, 
defeated,  broken-hearted,  almost  unmanned. 
It  was  because  they  never  learned  to  ally  their 
own  compassion  for  humanity  with  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  love  and  pity  of  Jesus  Christ. 


Ill 

We  come  to  the  one  wise  way  of  facing 
the  problems  and  the  agonies  of  life  without 
flinching  and  without  fear.  We  may  face 
them  so  as  possessors  of  the  Christian 
hope,  and  in  no  other  way — **  Seeing  then 
we  have  such  hope,  we  use  great  plainness 
of  speech." 

St.  Paul  has  been  speaking  of  the  compara- 
tive dimness  of  the  Mosaic  ministry.  That 
ministry  had  passages  of  glory,  but  the  glory 
was  transitory  and  faded  away.  It  was  shone 
down  by  the  everlasting  splendour  of  the  new 
ministry  of  Christ.  In  Christ  the  veil  was 
taken  away,  and  taken  away  for  ever.  There 
was  a  veil  on  the  face  of  Moses :  there  is  no 
veil  on  the  face  of  Jesus.     It  is  as  if  the  eyes 


NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH  43 

that  sought  each  other  with  such  desire  burned 
the    screen    that   parted  them.     So,   said    the 
Apostle,  since   we  live  in  light,   we  speak  in 
light.     We  declare  every  truth  of  the  Gospel, 
we  make  every  claim  for  our  ministry.     The 
future   glory   will   make    all    our    words  good. 
We   are   not    afraid    to   look   on    the    hostile 
elements   of  life  and  call  them  by  their  true 
names.     We  need  no  disguise,  no  euphemism, 
no    softening.       We    use    great    boldness    of 
speech,   and   are   not   afraid.     Christianity,   be 
it  remembered,  is   the   only  religion  that  has    » 
fairly  measured  itself  with   sin   and  grief  and  \ 
death.      It   has   undertaken   at  last   to  subdue  I 
them  completely.     It  recognises  the  sternness  \ 
of  the   battle  ;    it  confesses   that  the  foes  are 
terrible   foes.      It    has    no    hope    save    in    the 
might  of   Christ   Who   is   conquering    and    to 
conquer,  but  in   Him  it  reposes  an  unshaken  va. 
and  absolute  and  inviolable  trust. 

(i)  Take,  to  begin  with,  sin.  Christianity 
does  not  make  light  of  sin.  It  knows  that 
sin  is  something  more  than  a  derangement, 
something   more   than   a  disease.     Though   it 


44  NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH 

does  not  deny  those  relics  of  the  image  and 
glory  of  God  that  dwell  in  the  human  heart, 
it  does  not  seek  to  rally  the  still  lingering 
forces  that  make  for  the  right  in  the  most 
degraded  human  soul.  It  uses  great  plainness 
of  speech,  and  describes  the  state  of  man  not 
as  a  sickness,  but  as  a  death.  Its  phrase  is 
,  **  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  that  is  the 
blight  of  humanity.  Christ  has  come  to  raise 
the  dead.  ''You  hath  He  quickened  who 
were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins."  It  is  only 
by  working  the  miracle  of  resurrection  that 
Christ  can  deliver  one  human  soul.  Chris- 
tianity fully  recognises  the  far-reaching  issues 
of  transgression,  the  vitriolic  intensity  of 
remorse,  but  it  comes  to  undo  the  coil  of 
consequences.  It  comes  to  liberate  from  the 
guilt,  the  penalty,  and  the  power  of  sin.  And 
it  does  so  by  setting  over  against  the  immense 
disaster  of  the  world  the  Cross  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

This  is  what  no  other  religion  does.  At 
best,  every  other  religion  heals  hurt  slightly, 
or  does  not  heal  it  at  all.     Whenever  we  begin 


NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH  45 


to  go  into  the  doctrine  of  atonement  we  find 
ourselves  confronted  by  problems  of  immense 
complexity.     We  are  plunged  into  the  ''  abys- 
mal depths  of  personality."     Nevertheless  the 
human  heart  has  always  answered  and  always 
will  answer  to  the  Divine  remedy  for  sin.     It 
understands    the    parable    of    Heine.      After 
quoting  the  Homeric  description  of  the  feasting 
gods,   he  says :    ''  Then    suddenly  approached 
panting  a  pale   Jew  with  drops  of  blood  on 
his  brow,  with  a  crown  of  thorns  on  his  head, 
and  a  great  cross  laid  on  his  shoulders  ;   and 
he  threw  the  cross  on  the  high  table  of  the 
gods  so  that  the  golden  cups  tottered,  and  the 
gods  became  dumb  and  pale,  and  grew  even 
paler    till    they    at    last     melted    away    into 
vapour."      Yes,    it    is    the     Cross    that    has 
redressed    the    balance ;    it    is    the    blood    of 
Jesus     Christ     that     cleanses     from     all     sin. 
The  old  question — 

Is  there  not  rain  enough  in  the  sweet  heavens 
To  wash  it  white  as  snow  ? 

is  asked  to  no  purpose.     There    is   not   rain 


46  NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH 

enough.  All  the  perfumes  of  Arabia  will  not 
sweeten  the  defiled  hand.  But  at  the  last  it 
comes  to  this,  that  the  Christ  crucified  is  to 
them  that  believe  the  power  of  God  and  the 
wisdom  of  God.  It  is  told  of  a  great  Greek 
scholar  that  his  last  days  were  days  of  sadness. 
He  was  worn  by  pain,  and  his  powers  of  speech 
failed  him.  The  expression  of  his  eyes,  like 
those  of  the  dying  Agricola,  desired  something, 
and  that  something  was  found  in  a  large  printed 
copy  of  the  well-known  hymn — 

Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  Thee, 

which  had  been  displayed  a  few  days  before 
by  one  of  his  family.  He  passed  peacefully 
away  after  he  had  read  the  familiar  words. 
He  found,  as  all  sinners  may  find,  a  refuge  in 
that  strong  Rock  that  was  rent  by  love,  and 
there  is  no  other  refuge.  Because  we  can 
speak  plainly  of  the  Cross,  we  can  speak 
plainly  of  sin. 

(2)  In  the  same  way  Christianity  measures 
itself  with  grief.     It  says  that  at  last  there  will 


NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH  47 


be  no  place  for  it.  ''There  shall  be  no  more 
death,  neither  sorrow  nor  crying,  neither  shall 
there  be  any  more  pain,  for  the  former  things 
are  passed  away."  Griefs  come  upon  us  in 
such  battalions.  They  implicate  themselves 
so  closely  with  our  life.  They  are,  as  it  would 
seem,  the  inseparable  companions  of  what  is 
best  and  dearest  and  highest  in  this  world, 
and  it  is  very  hard  for  us  to  imagine  how  we 
shall  ever  be  done  with  them.  Christianity 
itself  recognises  this.  Even  when  the  Taber- 
nacle of  God  is  with  men  and  He  dwells  with 
them,  and  they  are  His  people  and  He 
Himself  is  with  them  and  is  their  God,  tears 
linger  in  their  eyes.  But  He  is  not  content 
to  have  it  so.  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears 
from  their  eyes.  He  will  plunge  grief  into 
the  nethermost  fires,  therein  to  be  consumed. 
And  how.^  Surely  He  hath  borne  our  griefs 
and  carried  our  sorrows  : — 

All  tears  done  away  with  the  bitter,  unquiet  sea, 

Death  done  away  from  among  the  living  at  last, 

Man    shall    say   of   sorrow — Love   grant   it    to    thee   and 
me  ! — 

At  last,  "It  is  past." 


48  NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH 

(3)  Again,  Christianity  measures  itself  with 
death.  Lessing,  I  think,  was  right  when  he 
took  the  view  that  Christianity  presents  death 
in  a  more  awful  light  than  heathenism.  The 
Greek  view  of  death  made  it  the  twin  brother 
of  sleep,  and  so  in  a  manner  amiable.  Chris- 
tianity increases  the  terror  of  death  by  showing 
it  as  the  wages  of  sin.  *'  Some  philosophers," 
said  Lessing,  ''have  thought  that  life  was  a 
punishment,  but  to  consider  death  such  was  a 
view  which  apart  from  revelation  could  hardly 
have  occurred  to  the  human  mind."  So  here 
also  we  use  great  plainness  of  speech.  We 
say  that  death  is  terrible  not  merely  because 
it  is  the  end,  but  because  it  is  the  beginning. 
It  is  terrible  not  merely  for  its  accessories, 
but  because  it  is  the  judgment  of  God  upon 
transgression.  St.  Paul  himself  recognised 
that  death  was  the  last  enemy  to  meet  Christ 
in  the  field  and  to  be  destroyed.  And  yet  so 
absolute  was  Christ's  victory  over  death  that 
in  the  New  Testament  it  is  spoken  of  as  sleep. 
It  is  not  that  the  name  has  been  changed,  but 
that  the  thing  itself  has  been  changed,  changed 


NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH 


49 


in   its  very  nature   and   essence.     More   than 
eighteen    hundred    years    have    passed    since 
St.  Paul  taunted  death  and  the  grave  in  words 
of  triumphant  scorn.     "  O  death,  where  is  thy 
sting.?       O    grave,    where    is    thy    victory?" 
And  yet  there  is  not  one  of  us  to-day  who  has 
not  felt  the  sting  of  death.     There  is  hardly 
one  who  has  not  wept  over  the  seeming  victory 
of  the   grave.       But    we    know    that    for   the 
Christian    there    is    no    death,   that   Christ  by 
rising    again,    the    firstfruits    of   His    sleeping 
people,  has  plucked  the  sting  from  death  and 
spoiled  the  victory  of  the  grave ;    and  so  we 
can  look  calmly  at  it,  and  have  peace — peace  by 
the  death-beds  of  our  dear  ones,  peace  when 
our  own  life  is  slipping  away  from  us,  peace  as 
we  stand  by  the  grave  where  already  we  have 
two  or  three  gathered  together  in  His  name, 
peace  in  the  thought  that  they  all  live  to  God, 
peace  in  the  hope  of  the  day  to  be  when  the 
little  hills  in   the   churchyard  shall   rejoice  on 
every  side— at  the  voice  of  the  archangel  and 
the  trump  of  God.     For  Christ  has  abolished 
death. 


E 


50  NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH 


(4)  To  give  one  more  illustration,  we  can 
afford  to  speak  very  calmly  about  the  world 
and  its  enmity  to  Christ.  There  is  no  need 
that  we  should  deceive  ourselves.  We  need 
not  try  to  think  that  we  are  in  the  majority,  or 
that  we  shall  have  an  easy  triumph.  We  do 
not  need  to  underrate  the  forces  that  are 
against  us,  nor  do  we  need  to  minimise  the 
hostility  of  the  natural  man  to  Christ.  What 
says  the  Apostle  ?  ''  The  whole  world  lieth  in 
wickedness."  And  again,  "  Not  many  wise, 
not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble  are  called." 
We  need  not  fear  to  face  the  fact  that  our 
progress  is  slow  and  difficult,  and  that  some- 
times even  we  seem  to  go  back.  We  are 
advancing  at  the  best  inch  by  inch  through  a 
hostile  and  difficult  country.  The  tide  of 
battle  rolls  backward  and  forward.  If  we 
seem  to  gain,  our  adversaries  immediately 
become  more  resolute  and  desperate.  Some- 
times we  wonder  what  is  to  come  of  it  all. 
Will  Christianity  be  able  even  to  hold  its  own 
in  England  '^  Sometimes  we  think  that  Christ 
has  forgotten  us,  and  say  that  He  is  as  a  man 


NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH  51 

astonied,   and   as    a   mighty   man    that   cannot 
save.^      There  are  hearts  here  that  are  very 
sore  for  some  branches  broken  from  the  True 
Vine    or    the    latter    rain    denied.       I    do    not 
beHeve  that  we  have  the  means  of  measuring 
the  advance  of  the  kingdom  of  God.     Some- 
times, indeed,  there  are  revivals,  overflowing 
tides   of  grace    before    which    the    mountains 
seem  to  be  swept  away.     But   I  am  sure  that 
you  cannot  measure  the  advance  of  the  cause 
by  the  statistics  of  the  visible  Church.     Christ 
is    calling    many    who    never    associate    them- 
selves with   their  brethren,  and  whose  names 
are  not  to  be  found  on  any  of  our  rolls.     And  | 
it  may  be  even  that  the  visible  Church  makes  I 
more  progress  in  years  when  she  confessedly! 
declines  than  in  years  when  she  increases.     It    \ 
may  be  that  we   should    be   stronger  if,   like  { 
Christ,   we    aimed    at    quality   rather  than    at  \ 
quantity.      In  any  case,  we  are  not  to  be  moved 
overmuch  by  such  things.     We  can  afford  to 
admit  all  the  difficulties,  to  admit  them  frankly. 
We  can  do  it  because  we  have  such  a  hope, 
because   we   know   that    Christ    is    conquering 


52  NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH 

and  to  conquer,  and  that  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord 
and  of  His  Christ.  We  rejoice  in  every  sign 
of  success,  we  rejoice  in  every  new  sanctuary 
that  is  opened  for  the  worship  of  Christ.  We 
rejoice  in  every  living  and  awakening  ministry 
bestowed  by  the  Redeemer  upon  His  Church. 
But  what  we  rest  upon  is  not  any  of  these 
things.  We  rest  upon  Christ's  sure  promise, 
upon  Christ's  living  energy,  on  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

"■  None  might  enter  the  king's  gate  clothed 
in  sackcloth,"  but  Christ  our  King  offers  his 
welcome  and  His  heart  to  those  who  are 
clothed  in  sackcloth,  who  are  weary  and  heavy- 
laden.  I  am  sure  there  are  such  among  us 
this  morning,  men  and  women  brooding  vainly 
over  the  past,  and  afraid  to  think  about  the 
future.  You  have  entered  the  King's  gate. 
Come  to  the  King.  Bring  your  sins  and  your 
sorrows  to  Christ.  Come  into  the  covenant, 
come  into  His  company,  and  He  will  never 
leave  you.  His  presence  will  make  all 
the  difference.     It  will  not  in   this  world  bid 


NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH  53 

sorrow  and  struggle  depart.  The  heart  is 
heavy — 

To  think  that  each  new  week  will  yield 
New  struggles  in  new  battleHeld. 

But  if  He  is  with  us  in  the  fight,  everything 
will  be  changed.  Said  St.  Paul  once,  ''  I  will 
abide  and  winter  with  you."  He  has  promised 
to  be  with  us  to  the  end  of  the  world,  and  He 
will  winter  with  us  through  the  dark,  cold 
years  until  the  winter  ends,  until  we  pass  from 
the  turmoil  of  this  world  to  the  peace  of  that. 
And  for  you  who  are  not  yet  clothed  in  sack- 
cloth, for  you  whose  peace  has  not  yet  been 
broken  by  the  dark  sorrows  of  life.  He  is  the 
Friend  of  friends.  I  know  that  a  young  heart 
may  be  very  heavy.  I  know  that  the  ancient 
thirst  of  humanity  is  in  the  most  joyous  spirit 
and  will  crave  for  satisfaction.  This  morning 
your  hopes  may  be  high,  but  in  your  souls 
there  is  always  that  low  cry  for  rest,  that  low 
cry  which  swells  at  last  into  passionate  weep- 
ing if  the  rest  is  not  given.  You  have  the 
hard  things  of  life  before  you,  but  you  need 
not  fear  them  if  you  win  the  hope  that  is  in 


54  NOT  AFRAID  OF  SACKCLOTH 

'  Jesus  Christ,  or  rather  if  you  win  Him,  for 
*  He  is  the  hope.  Unto  Him  that  loved  us 
and  loosed  us  from  our  sins  in  His  own 
blood,  and  made  us  a  kingdom  of  priests 
unto  God,  even  the  Father,  to  Him  be 
glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever. 
Might  we  all  join  at  last  in  that  triumphal 
cry ! 


GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE 
GARDEN  OF  GOD^ 

Without  shedding  of  blood  is  no . — Hebrews  ix.  22. 

I  DO  not  use  the  complete  sentence.  It  is 
true  even  upon  the  lowest  plane  that  without 
shedding  of  blood  there  is  nothing,  no  mighty 
result,  no  achievement,  no  triumph.  Every 
worthy  deed  costs  something  ;  no  high  thing 
can  be  done  easily.  No  great  thing  can  be 
accomplished  without  the  shedding  of  blood. 
Life  is  just  our  chance  of  making  this  great 
and  strange  discovery.  Many  of  us  never 
make  it.  We  begin  by  trifling,  by  working 
with  a  fraction  of  our  strength.  We  soon  see 
that  nothing  comes  of  that.  At  last,  if  we  are 
wise,  we  see  that  all  the  strength  is  needed. 

^  The  Annual  Sermon  preached  before  the  Wesleyan  Methodist 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  in  Great  Queen  Street  Chapel,  London, 
Friday  morning,  April  26,  1901. 

55 


56     GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD 

What  have  we  besides  this?  We  must  disrobe 
ourselves.  We  do  it ;  yet  our  object  remains 
ungalned.  What  more  have  we  to  give  ?  We 
have  our  blood.  So  at  last  the  blood  is  shed, 
the  life  is  parted  with,  and  the  goal  is  reached. 
We  are  happy  if  we  know  that  everything 
noble  and  enduring  in  this  world  is  accom- 
plished by  the  shedding  of  blood,  not  merely 
the  concentration  of  the  heart  and  soul  and 
mind  on  one  object,  but  the  pruning  and  even 
the  maiming  of  life.  Young  men  are  being 
taught  this  lesson  now,  and  unless  all  signs 
are  false  they  will  be  taught  it  more  sternly  in 
the  future. 

Without  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no . 

There  has  been  from  the  beginning  a  profound 
and  solemn  witness  in  the  human  heart  to  this. 
Many  of  the  primitive  religious  ideas  are 
God's  deep  preparation  of  the  mind  and  heart 
of  man  for  the  grand  Gospel  of  Christianity, 
the  substitution  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for 
guilty  sinners.  This  witness  is  embedded  in 
our  language.  What  is  meant  by  the  word 
''  bless  "  1     It  is  derived  from  the  Anglo-Saxon 


GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD     57 

word  for  blood.  We  may  legitimately  translate 
this  by  saying  that  before  we  can  truly  bless 
another  human  being  we  must  shed  our  blood 
for  him.  You  can  lighten  a  brother's  way  by 
cups  of  cold  water,  by  small  gifts,  by  smiles, 
by  friendly  words,  and  these  things  are  great 
in  the  eyes  of  Christ.  But  to  bless  in  the 
superlative  degree  we  must  part  with  life. 
Without  shedding  of  blood  it  cannot  be.  And 
the  primitive  religions  everywhere  bear  the 
same  witness.  It  was  thought  that  a  life  had 
to  be  buried  in  the  seed-ground  before  there 
could  be  a  harvest.  The  old  legend  of 
Copenhagen  tells  us  that  its  founders  failed 
again  and  again.  Their  work  was  destroyed 
by  the  sea,  till  at  last  a  human  life  was 
sacrificed,  and  the  city  became  stable.  I 
might  quote  from  the  Greek  tragedians, 
whose  theology  is  a  deep  theology,  to  the 
same  effect.  However  crude,  however  dis- 
torted, these  notions  might  be,  they  all  pointed 
men  onwards  to  the  supreme  Altar  of  the 
universe  where  Jesus  died,  ''  the  just  for  the 
unjust,  that  He  might  bring  us  to  God." 


58     GETHSEMANE,   THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD 


So  the  Eternal  Son  shed  as  it  were  great 
drops  of  blood  in  Gethsemane,  and  offered 
Himself  immaculate  to  God  on  the  Cross. 
We  can  never  render  the  doctrine  of  the 
Atonement  in  terms  of  human  self-sacrifice 
and  self-surrender.  Rudyard  Kipling,  in  his 
Light  that  Failed,  puts  the  true  word  into 
the  mouth  of  one  of  his  characters  :  ''I'd  take 
any  punishment  that  is  in  store  for  him  if  I 
could,  but  the  worst  of  it  is  that  no  man  can 
save  his  brother."  But  the  human  analogies 
help  us,  and,  indeed,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Atonement  without  them  would  be  a  mere 
blank  for  our  minds.  So  I  seem  to  see  how  it 
is  that  the  simple  receive  and  understand  the 
plainest  preaching  of  the  glorious  truth  of 
propitiation,  and  leap  to  it,  while  those  whose 
minds  are  overlaid  with  speculation  and  what 
is  called  culture  find  it  difficult.  Alas !  we 
often  see  theologians,  even  Evangelical  theo- 
logians, using  infinite  evasions  and  subtleties 
to  disencumber  themselves  of  the  one  weapon 
without  which  the  Evangelist  can  do  nothing 
at  all.      But  we  know  that  Christ's  appearing 


GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD     59 


would  have  had  no  purpose  and  conduced  to 
no  end,  if  He  had  not  stayed  long  enough  with 
us  to  shed  His  blood  in  Gethsemane  and 
Calvary.  To  know  what  our  redemption  cost 
Him  we  must,  with  the  author  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews,  look  at  Gethsemane  as  well 
as  Calvary,  and  even  then  we  do  not  know. 

None  of  the  ransomed  ever  knew  ^\ 

How  deep  were  the  waters  crossed  ;  \ 

Nor  how  dark  was  the  night  that  the  Lord  passed  through 
Ere  He  found  His  sheep  that  was  lost. 

But  we  do  know  something.  We  see  Him 
in  His  extremity  when  He  began  fully  to 
understand  the  bitterness  of  His  cup.  We 
hear  Him  pray  His  prayer  with  strong  crying 
and  tears,  ''  If  it  be  possible  let  this  cup  pass 
from  Me."  That  transeat  calix\  There  is  no 
prayer  like  that,  no  prayer  ever  uttered  with 
such  intensity.  The  prayer  that  is  lifted  when 
it  seems  just  possible  that  the  cup  may  pass, 
and  that  the  pleading  may  decide  it,  is  in  itself 
a  shedding  of  blood.  We  realise  the  dim 
witnesses  who  heard  afar  the  broken  moaning, 
the    long   sobs,   who   witnessed    the   hard-won 


\ 


6o     GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD 

victory  which  seemed  a  defeat,  who  could  not 
watch  with   Him  one   hour.     We   know   what 
the  strain  must  have  been  when  there  came  to 
His    succour    the    all -pitying    but    undimmed 
Angel.     If  it  had  not  been  that  God  made  His 
minister  a  flame  of  fire  in  that  darkness,  could 
Christ   have    conquered  ?     The    cup    was    not 
taken  away,  but  the  prayer  was  answered,  for 
His  lips  were  made  brave  to  drink  it.     Perhaps 
•  they  are  right  who  say  that  Gethsemane  was 
Ithe  crowning  point  of  our  Redeemer's  suffer- 
ings, though  it  was  on  Calvary  that  He  finished 
I  His  work.     I  do  not  know.     He  quivered  for 

ia  moment  on  Calvary,  too. 

I  shall  endeavour  to  illustrate  simply  two 
missionary  ideas  partly  suggested  by  etymology. 
Blessing,  as  we  have  seen,  means  blood-shed- 

! '  ding.  With  blood,  too,  are  connected  the 
words  bloom  and  blossom  ;  that  is,  the  perfec- 

/j  tion  and  crown  of  life  comes  out  of  death.  So, 
then,  we  speak  first  of  blessing  from  blood- 
shedding  to  others,  and  next  of  the  perfect 
bloom  of  life  in  ourselves  coming  out  of  death. 


GETHSEMANE,   THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD    6i 


Blessing  comes  from  blood-shedding ;  that 
is,  our  power  to  bless  in  the  highest  sense 
comes  from  our  shedding,  as  it  were,  great 
drops  of  blood.  We  need  not  shed  them 
literally,  though  the  Church  has  justly  placed 
the  martyrs  first.  The  Church  of  Rome  never 
prays  for  the  martyrs,  but  makes  request  for 
their  prayers.  The  martyrs  it  sees  before 
Christ  in  robes  of  crimson,  and  the  saints  in 
white.  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed 
of  the  Church.  We  cannot  atone,  but  we  can 
bless.  We  cannot  have  a  share  in  the  one 
perfect  Oblation,  the  Evening  Sacrifice  of  the 
world,  but  we  fill  up  that  which  is  behind  of 
the  af^ictions  of  Christ.  Of  every  great  servant 
of  Christ  it  is  true  that  the  Lord  says,  "  I  will 
show  him  how  great  things  he  must  suffer  for 
My  Name's  sake."  It  would  not  be  right  to 
say  that  it  is  the  suffering  that  counts,  and  not 
the  labour.  What  is  true  is  that  the  labour 
without  the  suffering  does  not  count,  that  the 
two  in   a  fruitful  life  are  indissolubly  joined. 


62     GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD 

We  are  familiar  with  the  great  passages  in 
which  the  Apostle  is  driven  to  use  the  awful 
language  of  the  Passion,  where  he  says,  "  I  am 
crucified  with  Christ,  I  die  daily."  And  it  is 
true  that  all  along  the  way  there  are  sacrifice 
and  blood- shedding.  But  I  believe  it  is 
equally  true  that  there  is  but  one  great 
Gethsemane  in  the  lives  of  Christ's  blessed 
servants.  Many  have  none,  and  their  work 
comes  to  little,  but  the  elect  have  one  that 
stands  above  all,  one  shedding  of  blood,  one 
death,  after  which  the  rest  seems  easy.  Can 
we  know  the  Gethsemane  of  another  ?  I  think 
not  often.  It  is  passed,  as  a  rule,  with  little 
sign  or  show.  When  George  Howe,  in  the 
Bonnie  Brier  Busk,  came  home  to  die,  his 
mother  hid  herself  beneath  the  laburnum  to 
see  his  face  as  the  cart  stood  beside  the  stile. 
It  told  her  plainly  what  she  had  feared,  and 
Marget  passed  through  her  Gethsemane  with 
the  gold  blossoms  falling  on  her  face.  You 
may  be  passing  through  yours  now,  and  there 
is  little  to  show  it — some  absence  of  manner, 
some  twitching  of  the  lips,  but  no  more  ;  and 


GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD    63 


you  will  never  tell  any  one  of  it,  and  no  one 
may  discover  it  even  after  you  are  dead.     One 
may  suspect   another  man's   Gethsemane,  the 
time   when   he   parted   with  his  life,  but  very 
likely  one   is  wrong,  and   the  surrender  he  is 
thinking  of  was   accomplished   almost  without 
murmur  or  reluctance.      It  is  so  in  biographies. 
We  sometimes  think  that  we  see  when  we  do 
not.     The  Gethsemane  may  be,  and  often  is, 
the   rooting   out   of  some    cherished    ambition 
that  has  filled   the   heart   and   occupied   every 
thought.      It   may  be   the   shattering   of  some 
song,   the   breaking   of  some   dream.      It  may 
be,    and    often    is,    the    great    rending    of  the 
affections,   the   cutting   of  the    soul   free   from 
some  detaining  human  tenderness.     Anyhow, 
the  full  agony  cannot  last  more  than  a  little, 
though    the    heart-ache    may   persist    through 
a    lifetime.     ''  Could   ye    not    watch    with    Me 
one   hoiirV     I    sometimes    think    that    blood- 
sheddings  are   far  more  common  than  we  are 
apt  to  imagine,  and  that  they  take  place  in  the 
most   unlikely   lives.     In   the  memoir    of   Dr. 
Raleigh,  a  prosperous  suburban  minister  with 


64  GETHSEMANE,   THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD 

every  earthly  ambition  realised,  there  is  a 
significant  passage.  When  he  was  at  the 
zenith  of  his  fame  he  said  that  ministers  came 
and  looked  round  at  his  crowded  church,  and 
envied  his  position.  "  They  do  not  know  what 
it  cost  me  to  come  to  this."  So,  in  James 
Hamilton's  life,  we  are  permitted  to  see  how 
he  parted,  for  Christ's  sake,  with  his  great 
ambition.  He  wished  to  write  a  life  of 
Erasmus,  and  devoted  many  years  to  prepara- 
tion, but  other  claims  came  and  baulked  him 
of  his  long  desire.  He  says  :  *'  So  this  day, 
with  a  certain  touch  of  tenderness,  I  restored 
the  eleven  tall  folios  to  the  shelf,  and  tied  up 
my  memoranda,  and  took  leave  of  a  project 
which  has  sometimes  cheered  the  hours  of 
exhaustion,  and  the  mere  thought  of  which 
has  always  been  enough  to  overcome  my 
natural  indolence.  It  is  well.  It  was  a 
chance,  the  only  one  I  ever  had,  of  attaining 
a  small  measure  of  literary  distinction,  and 
where  there  is  so  much  pride  and  haughtiness 
of  heart  it  is  better  to  remain  unknown."  I 
think  we  may  easily  see  where  the  Gethsemane 


GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD    65 

was  in  Henry  Martyn's  life,  and  I  think  one 
may  also  see  it  in  John  Wesley's  life,  though 
I  should  not  care  to  indicate  it.  But  the  heart 
knoweth  its  own  bitterness.  What  we  know 
is  that  the  Gethsemanes  in  the  Christian  life 
come  in  the  course  of  duty,  and  in  obedience 
to  God's  will  as  it  is  revealed  from  day  to  day. 
Wesleyan  Methodists  have  always  recog- 
nised that  blessing  must  come  from  the 
shedding  of  blood,  from  the  parting  with  the 
life.  I  might  quote  many  passages,  but  must 
content  myself  with  two.  John  Wesley, 
speaking  of  a  reputed  saint,  rejects  his  claims, 
saying,  ''  No  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  here,  no 
reproach,  no  scandal  of  the  Cross,  no  persecu- 
tion of  them  that  live  godly."  Dr.  Adam 
Clarke,  in  his  address  at  the  foundation  of 
the  London  Wesleyan  Methodist  Missionary 
Society  in  181 6,  made  special  reference  to  the 
Moravians.  I  need  not  say  how  great  the 
Moravian  influence  was  on  early  Methodism. 
He  told  his  hearers  how,  when  the  Moravians 
were  only  six  hundred  in  number,  they  had 
missionaries  all  over  the  world.     The   begin- 


66  GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD 

ning  was  in  this  wise.  A  negro  named 
Anthony  came  from  St.  Thomas,  and  passed 
under  the  influence  of  Zinzendorf.  He  said 
that  his  fellow-slaves  were  seeking  a  missionary 
to  declare  to  them  the  true  God,  but  the 
missionary  could  only  find  entrance  if  he  went 
as  a  slave.  Two  brethren,  Leonard  Dober 
and  Tobias  Leopold,  immediately  offered  them- 
selves, and  expressed  their  willingness  to  be 
sold  as  slaves  that  they  might  preach  Christ. 
We  may  be  sure,  whether  we  are  aware  of  the 
facts  or  not,  that  no  life  that  brings  fruit  to 
God  is  without  its  Gethsemane,  its  parting 
with  life,  its  shedding,  as  it  were,  great  drops 
of  blood.  But,  as  the  Saviour's  blood  fell  on 
the  cursed  ground  and  blessed  it,  so  the  blood 
of  the  surrendered  soul  makes  Gethsemane  a 
garden.  If  not  now,  then  hereafter;  sooner 
or  later  the  time  must  come. 


II 

The   bloom   and    perfection    of   life    to    the 
missionary   come    from  the  shedding  of  blood. 


GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD    67 

Observe  that  I  am  not  speaking  here  of  the 
blessing  to  others,  but  of  the  blessing  that  is 
meant  to  come  to  ourselves  in  the  great  enrich- 
ment of  the  spiritual  life  that  should  follow, 
and  abundantly  make  up  for,  the  impoverish- 
ment and  expenditure  of  the  natural  life. 
What  comes  after  the  parting  with  the  natural 
life,  after  the  shedding  of  blood,  after  the 
death  to  the  world  ?  Various  things  come,  but 
what  ought  to  come  is  the  resurrection  life, 
which  the  shedding  of  blood  has  made  room 
for. 

It  does  not  always  come  even  to  the 
servants  of  God  whose  lives  are  faithful.  Their 
work  is  fruitful,  never  without  result,  but  they 
themselves  have  not  the  full  blessing  of  the 
resurrection  life. 

( I )  Often  the  Gethsemane  of  the  soul  means 
a  brief  tarrying  in  this  world.  It  seems  as  if 
too  much  had  gone,  as  if  the  spirit  could  not 
recover  its  energies.  There  are  a  few  books 
peculiarly  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  Church 
which  I  may  call  Gethsemane  books.  The 
chief  are  the  lives  of  Brainerd,   Martyn,  and 


68     GETHSEMANE,   THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD 

McCheyne.  All  of  these  died  young,  not 
without  signs  of  the  Divine  blessing,  but  pre- 
maturely— rich  and  fervid  natures  exhausted 
and  burnt  out.  I  do  not  overlook  physical 
causes  and  reasons,  but  in  each  case  there  was 
a  Gethsemane.  Read  the  memoir  of  Brainerd, 
which  Wesley  published  in  an  abridged  form. 
It  was  written  by  Jonathan  Edwards,  the 
greatest  intellect  of  America.  Mark  its 
reserved  passion,  its  austere  tenderness. 
Read  the  story  of  young  Jerusha  Edwards, 
who  followed  her  betrothed  so  soon,  and  you 
feel  that  you  have  done  business  in  great 
waters.  Read  Brainerd's  aspirations.  **  Oh  ! 
that  I  might  be  a  flaming  fire  in  the  service  of 
my  God.  Here  I  am  ;  Lord,  send  me  ;  send 
me  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  send  me  to  the 
rough,  the  savage  pagans  of  the  wilderness ; 
send  me  from  all  that  is  called  comfort  in  life 
or  earthly  comfort ;  send  me  even  to  death  itself, 
if  it  be  but  in  Thy  service  and  to  promote  Thy 
kingdom." 

(2)  Sometimes  the  earthly  life  parted  with 
is  not  fully  replaced  by  the  resurrection   life, 


GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD    69 

and  a  long-drawn  melancholy  ensues.  It  is 
so,  I  venture  to  think,  in  the  life  of  Charles 
Wesley.  It  will  be  granted  by  the  most 
ardent  admirers  of  that  great  saint  and 
supreme  Christian  poet  that  the  last  thirty 
years  of  his  life  will  not  compare  with  those  of 
his  mighty,  strenuous,  ardent  youth.  They 
were  sad  years  in  the  main,  spent  in  compara- 
tive inaction,  and  with  many  weary,  listless, 
discontented  days.  There  is  something  most 
attractive  about  the  melancholy  of  his  hymns, 
but  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  melancholy  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  that  such  strains  as — 


and 


I  suffer  out  my  threescore  years 
Till  the  Deliverer  come, 

Explain  my  life  of  misery, 

With  all  Thy  Love's  designs  on  me. 


however  they  may  fascinate  us  in  many  moods, 
are  not  really  Christian.  The  text  of  Charles 
Wesley's  later  years,  the  text  that  must  ever 
be  associated  with  his  name,  was,  ''  I  will  bring 
the  third  part  through  the  fire."     He  thought 


70     GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD 

that  one-third  part  of  Methodists  would  endure 
to  the  end.  He  never  sought  an  abundant 
entrance  for  himself  into  the  heavenly  king- 
dom, never  asked  more  than  that  "  I  may 
escape  safe  to  land — on  a  broken  piece  of  the 
ship.  This  is  my  daily  and  hourly  prayer,  that 
I  may  escape  safe  to  land."  In  his  later  days 
he  used  to  warn  those  who  summoned  him 
that  a  flood  was  coming  which  might  sweep 
away  much  of  the  religion  in  the  country. 
This  was  not  the  highest  nor  even  the  normal 
Christian  life.  Our  Gethsemanes  are  not 
meant  to  end  in  gloom  and  melancholy.  They 
are  meant  to  give  us,  by  the  grace  of  God,  a 
richer,  even  an  eternal  life  in  the  place  of  that 
which  we  have  lost.  Our  sufferings  must  be 
well  used,  for  "  in  this  mortal  journey  wasted 
shade  is  worse  than  wasted  sunshine." 

(3)  No,  the  bloom  of  life  should  come  out 
of  death.  The  resurrection  life  should  pour 
into  the  depleted  veins,  and  fill  them  with 
strength  and  peace.  That  was  eminently  the 
experience  of  John  Wesley.  Branch  after 
branch  was  withered,  but  every  time  the  new 


GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD    71 


life  rushed  through  all  the  arid  fibres,  and  they 
bloomed  again.  There  is  no  book,  I  humbly 
think,  in  all  the  world  like  John  Wesley's 
Journal.  It  is  pre-eminently  the  book  of  the 
resurrection  life  lived  in  this  world.  It  has 
very  few  companions.  Indeed,  it  stands  out 
solitary  in  all  Christian  literature,  clear, 
detached,  columnar.  It  is  a  tree  that  is  ever 
green  before  the  Lord.  It  tells  us  of  a  heart 
that  kept  to  the  last  its  innocent  pleasures 
and  interests,  but  held  them  all  loosely  and 
lightly,  while  its  Christian,  passionate  peace 
grew  and  grew  to  the  end.  To  the  last  there 
are,  not  diminishing,  but  increasing,  the  old 
zeal,  the  old  wistfulness,  the  calm  but  fiery 
and  revealing  eloquence.  John  Wesley  was, 
indeed,  one  of  those  who  had  attained  the 
inward  stillness,  who  had  entered  the  Second 
Rest — of  those  who,  to  use  his  own  fine  words, 
are  ''  at  rest  before  they  go  home  ;  possessors 
of  that  rest  which  remaineth  even  here  for  the 
people  of  God."  It  is  with  peculiar  love  and 
reverence  that  one  comes  to  his  closing  days, 
and  follows  him  to  his  last  sermon  at  Leather- 


72     GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD 

head,  on  the  words,  ''  Seek  ye  the  Lord  while 
He  may  be  found,  call  ye  upon  Him  while  He 
is  near";  and  watches  by  his  triumphant 
death-bed,  and  hears  him  say,  "  The  clouds 
drop  fatness."  The  only  one  I  can  compare 
with  him  is  Apostle  Eliot,  the  missionary  to 
the  Indians,  whose  life  is  quaintly  written  by 
Cotton  Mather.  It  used  to  be  said  in  New 
England  that  the  country  was  safe  when  Eliot 
was  there.  Hawthorne  tells  how  the  hero 
of  The  Scarlet  Letter  thought  of  Eliot  in  his 
racking  agony.  Of  that  great  saint,  worthy 
to  stand  with  John  Wesley,  we  read  that  he 
was  a  man  of  infinite  serenity.  His  face 
shone  with  an  almost  supernatural  radiance. 
But  he  had  his  bitter  sorrows.  His  sons  died 
before  him.  They  were  '*  desirable  preachers 
of  the  Gospel,"  but  we  are  told  that  he 
sacrificed  them  "  with  such  a  sacred  indiffer- 
ency."  He  was  so  nailed  to  the  Cross  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  the  grandeurs  of  this 
world  were  to  him  just  what  they  would  be  to 
a  dying  man.  When,  at  a  great  age,  and 
nearing  the  end,  at  last,  he  grew,  like  Wesley, 


GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD    73 

Still  ''more  heavenly,  more  savoury,  more 
Divine,  and  scented  more  and  more  of  the 
spicy  country  at  which  he  was  ready  to  put 
ashore." 

The  application  of  all  this  is  very  obvious. 
I,  for  one,  believe  the  ancient  word,  "The 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  earth 
as  the  waters  cover  the  sea."  But  first  there 
must  fall  on  the  earth  the  blood  shed  from 
faithful  souls.  There  is  no  life  save  from  the 
parting  with  natural  life.  Some  young  men 
whom  I  love  have  plans  for  the  evangelising 
of  the  world  in  the  present  generation.  Yes, 
but  what  is  evangelising  ?  The  sending  of 
Bibles ;  the  delivery  of  the  Message  to  every 
one  ?  No,  but  the  shedding  of  the  servants* 
blood  on  every  field.  When  the  world  has 
become  one  great  Gethsemane,  we  shall  see 
over  it  all  the  flowers  that  grow,  and  grow 
only,  in  the  garden  where  Christ's  brow 
dropped  blood.  But  this  morning  some  sweet 
mother  will  go  through  her  Gethsemane  and  1 
give  her  son.  Said  one  in  weeds,  when  asked  | 
if    she    subscribed    to    a    missionary    society, 


74     GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD 

*'  Yes,  I  gave  my  only  son,  and  he  died  on 
the  field."  Some  heart  will  hear  me  to-day, 
and  answer  to  the  call,  and  pass  through  its 
Gethsemane  in  this  chapel,  and  return  to  open 
itself  to  the  influx  of  the  life  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  depart  to  years  of  mighty  words 
and  deeds.  May  it  be  so  !  I  have  heard  it 
said  that  your  people  die  well.  Surely,  of 
this  death  to  the  world  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking  this  morning,  those  words  of  Charles 
Wesley's  are  most  of  all  appropriate — 

Ah,  lovely  appearance  of  death  ; 
What  sight  upon  earth  is  so  fair  ? 

For  us  who  remain  there  is  a  message. 
The  service  will  be  over  in  a  moment ;  there 
will  be  a  collection.  You  will  put  your  hand 
in  your  pocket  and  pick  out  a  small  coin, 
thinking  of  what  you  are  to  spend  in  other 
ways  before  you  get  home.  You  will  not 
miss  it,  not  know  that  you  have  given  it. 
Your  missionary  magazine  will  come  to  you, 
and  you  will  look  at  it,  or  perhaps  you  will 
complain  that  those  missionary  periodicals  are 


GETHSEMANE,  THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  GOD    75 


SO  dull.  And  you  think  that  the  world  will  be 
converted  after  this  fashion  !  No,  the  Church 
of  Christ  must  be  in  an  agony,  praying  more 
earnestly,  sweating,  as  it  were,  great  drops 
of  blood,  before  the  world  can  be  brought 
to  Christ.  We  give  nothing,  until  we  give 
what  it  costs  us  to  give,  life.  There  is  no 
life  without  death.  Gethsemane  is  the  rose 
garden  of  God. 


THE    WATERSHED 

We  preach  Christ  crucified.^  —  I  COR.  i.  23. 

These  words  gather  in  a  strange  and  terrible 
accord  men  whose  differences  are  infinite. 
We  preach  Christ  crucified — so  much  all  who 
believe  that  Christ  ever  existed  may  say. 
But  some  take  the  phrase  as  it  stands,  and 
put  a  full  stop  at  the  close.  They  say  it  is  a 
historical  fact  that  Christ  was  crucified  on  the 
Cross,  and  that  upon  the  Cross  His  life  and 
work  were  ended.  We  who  use  the  phrase  as 
St.  Paul  used  it,  consider  it  in  a  very  different 
manner.  But  it  is  a  fact  that  the  modern  mind 
finds  it  easier  to  believe  in  the  Cross  than  in 
the  resurrection.  The  Cross,  they  say,  does 
not  involve  a  faith  in  the  supernatural,  but  the 

'  Dedicatory    sermon    of    the    New    Wesleyan     Methodist    Hall, 
Edinburgh.     Preached  on  Thursday  morning,  October  17,  1901. 

76 


THE  WATERSHED  yj 

resurrection  is  a  stumbling-block,  an  impos- 
sible break  in  the  natural  order.  That  Christ 
died  upon  the  Cross,  amid  the  jeers  of  Jew  and 
Roman,  is  true,  and  nothing  to  be  wondered 
at,  for  many  righteous  men,  before  and  since, 
have  suffered  after  the  same  manner.  It  is 
foolishness,  however,  to  suppose  that  He  was 
able  to  shatter  the  iron  gates  of  death. 

We  preach  Christ  crucified.  The  phrase 
may  be  described  as  a  watershed,  and  I  will 
illustrate  its  different  uses  from  a  poem  by 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  : — 

Behold  the  rocky  wall 

That  down  its  sloping  sides 
Pours  the  swift  rain-drops,  blending,  as  they  fall 

In  rushing  river-tides  ! 

Yon  stream,  whose  sources  run 

Turned  by  a  pebble's  edge, 
Is  Athabasca,  rolling  toward  the  sun 

Through  the  cleft  mountain-ledge. 

The  slender  rill  had  strayed. 

But  for  the  slanting  stone, 
To  evening's  ocean,  with  the  tangled  braid 

Of  foam-flecked  Oregon. 


78  THE  WATERSHED 

So  from  the  heights  of  will 

Life's  parting  stream  descends, 
And,  as  a  moment  turns  its  slender  rill, 

Each  widening  torrent  bends, — 

From  the  same  cradle's  side, 

From  the  same  mother's  knee, — 

One  to  long  darkness  and  the  frozen  tide, 
One  to  the  Peaceful  Sea  ! 

Let  me  trace  briefly  the  courses  of  the 
two  streams.  "  We  preach  Christ  crucified  "  on 
one  side,  and  on  the  other  "  We,  risen  and 
crucified,  preach  Christ  Divine,  crucified,  risen." 

I 

It  is  the  word  Divine  which  turns  the 
course.  The  essence  of  heresy  is  the  asser- 
tion that  Christ  is  a  creature.  No  matter  how 
loftily  He  may  be  conceived  of,  if  His  Deity 
is  denied  the  end  is  the  long  darkness  and  the 
frozen  tide. 

(i)  We  begin  with  Arianism,  which  seems, 
at  first  sight,  to  grant  so  much  that  it  is 
barely  distinguishable  from  Christianity.  It 
affirms  that  Christ  existed  before  He  became 


THE   WATERSHED  79 


Incarnate,  that  by  Him  God  made  the  worlds, 
that   He   is,  in   a  manner,  to   be   worshipped, 
that   He  wrought  miracles,  and  that  He  rose 
from  the  dead.      But  it   affirms  also   that    He 
had   a  beginning    of  existence,   that    He   was   | 
created  by  God,  that,  being  created  by  God,    ' 
He  could  be  annihilated  by  God.     This  con-    \ 
ception    of  Christ   was    held    at  one   time  by 
many  powerful  intellects,  and  has  at  least  one 
living  representative   who   must    be    regarded 
with  deep  respect.     Yet  it  is  fair  to  say  that 
it  has  practically  no  place  in  the  actual  world 
of  thought. 

(2)  The  stream  descends,  and  we  find  it 
next  as  Socinianism,  or,  as  it  is  now  called, 
Unitarianism.  Those  who  have  read  Socinus 
may  be  astonished  to  find  how  exalted  is  the 
place  he  accords  to  Christ.  He  differs  from 
Arius  in  holding  that  Christ  had  no  pre- 
existence,  that  His  life  began  with  His  mortal 
birth.  But  he  maintains  that  Christ  was  born  \ 
of  a  virgin,  that  He  was  the  Immaculate  Son  ' 
of  God,  that  in  a  sense  He  is  worthy  of 
our   homage,    that    He    wrought    miracles    in 


8o  THE   WATERSHED 

the  world,  and  visibly  conquered  death. 
Within  living  memory  Unitarians  made 
similar  affirmations. 

(3)  But  this,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  can  no 
longer  be  said.  The  disciples  of  Socinus 
began  to  maintain  that  Christ  would  be  more 
powerful  if  He  were  freed  from  the  bandages 
of  the  supernatural.  So  gradually  miracle 
was  denied.  The  truth  of  the  resurrection 
was  volatilised,  or  openly  rejected.  Christ, 
it  was  said,  shared  the  lot  of  the  departed,  and 
left  His  body  to  become  Syrian  dust.  Still, 
for  a  long  time  a  strenuous  effort  was  made  to 
maintain  His  sinlessness.  *'  I  know  not,"  said 
Channing,  "  what  can  be  added  to  the  wonder, 
reverence,  and  love  that  belong  to  Jesus."  It 
was  held  that  He  towered  over  the  rest  of 
mankind  in  His  moral  and  spiritual  perfection, 
that  He  was  the  true  Leader  of  faithful  souls. 
I  think  it  would  be  correct  to  say  that  this 
view  is  taken  to-day  by  some  representative 
Unitarians,  including  Stopford  Brooke.  But 
it  has  become  clear  to  the  majority  that  a 
sinless  man  is  a  miracle,  and  that  if  the  order 


THE   WATERSHED 


of  law  is  to  remain  inviolate,  Christ  must  be, 
in  another  sense,  numbered  with  the  trans- 
gressors. 

(4)  So  the  stream  still  descends.  When 
the  miracles  are  denied,  when  the  resurrection 
becomes  incredible,  when  the  sinlessness  is 
seen  to  be  impossible,  the  question  comes, 
How  are  we  to  estimate  Christ's  character  .-^ 
Many  would  still  say  that  Christ  was  the 
greatest  of  the  prophets,  meaning  not  only 
that  He  said  the  most  memorable  and  precious 
things,  but  that  He  said  them  from  the 
noblest  of  natures.  But  the  more  the  actual 
phenomena  of  the  Gospels  are  investigated, 
the  more  it  will  be  seen  that  if  what  have 
been  called  the  enormous  personal  pretensions 
of  Christ  cannot  be  vindicated.  He  is  below 
and  not  above  the  level  of  humanity.  Francis 
Newman  was  tempted  to  call  Him  a  conscious 
and  wilful  impostor.  He  could  not  recognise 
Him  as  really  simple  and  straightforward,  and 
put  Fletcher  of  Madeley,  Wesley's  designated 
successor,  far  above  Him  in  point  of  character. 

I  confess  that  Renan's  conclusion  seems  to  me 

G 


82  THE  WATERSHED 

by  far  the  most  logical.  His  apologies  for 
Christ  are  far  more  appalling  than  his  accusa- 
tion, but  on  his  own  premises  he  is  compelled 
to  recognise  that  Christ  was  a  schemer  as  well 
as  a  dreamer.  A  certain  shrinking  holds  most 
critics  back,  but  it  is  significant  enough  that 
one  declares  that  Jesus  is  no  part  of  His  own 
Gospel,  while  another  finds  the  historical  proof 
of  His  existence  in  what  he  evidently  takes 
for  tokens  and  acknowledgments  of  mortal 
frailty. 

(5)  Can  the  stream  go  lower?  Yes.  So 
desperate  is  the  problem  of  the  character  of 
Christ  as  viewed  by  rationalistic  criticism,  that 
some  have  strenuously  and  ably  argued  that 
He  has  never  existed  at  all.  I  cannot  but 
think  that  this  position  will  be  much  more 
widely  adopted  by  the  critics  who  deny  the 
supernatural.  Beside  such  a  Christ  as  they 
conceive,  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels  is  credible 
and  simple.  The  criticism  that  will  not  on 
any  terms  accept  the  Divine  Christ  will  find 
it  easiest  to  deny  that  there  ever  was  any 
Christ,    easiest   to   affirm   that    He   is   a   mere 


THE  WATERSHED  83 

figment  of  the  imagination,  and  to  adopt  the 
prophecy,  *'  the  time  will  come  when  no  heart 
shall  remember  that  the  Saviour  suffered  and 
died  for  the  world.  The  last  believer  shall  go 
down  in  darkness  to  his  grave,  and  from  that 
hour  shall  Golgotha  vanish  away  from  the 
earth,  like  the  place  where  the  Garden  of 
Eden  lay." 

One  to  long  darkness  and  the  frozen  tide. 


II 

The  other  stream  turns  another  way,  and 
ends  in  another  rest.  We,  risen  and  crucified, 
preach  Christ,  Divine,  crucified,  and  risen. 
The  Divinity,  or,  rather,  the  Deity,  is  the 
dividing  line.  Christ  was  uncreated,  not  only 
the  Son  of  God,  but  God  the  Son.  He  was 
perfectly  and  purely  God,  and  as  truly  and 
really  man.  The  Church  lives  only  as  she 
holds  fast  to  this  fact,  and  she  knows  it.  No 
definitions  or  descriptions,  theological  or  other, 
can  do  more  than  touch  the  fringe  of  His 
splendour.     But,  if  we  are  to  understand  the 


84  THE  WATERSHED 

preaching  of  Christ  crucified,  we  must  fill 
every  word  and  every  thought  with  the  full 
meaning  of  Deity  which  belongs  to  the  name 
of  Christ.  The  more  we  do  this,  the  more 
gloriously  the  river  will  expand  and  end.  I 
can  but  touch  on  one  or  two  points. 

(i)  It  is  the  Deity  of  Christ  which  gives 
meaning  to  His  atonement.  We  must  not 
shrink  from  the  strongest  words  that  Scripture 
uses  ;  rather  we  must  glory  in  them.  The 
Church  of  God  has  been  purchased  by  the 
blood  of  God.  Whenever  we  preach  Christ, 
whenever  we  sit  at  His  Table,  we  show  forth 
the  Lord's  death.  It  is  the  Deity  of  Christ 
that  gave  His  death  its  significance  in  regard 
to  sin.  The  blood  of  man  could  not  put  away 
sin  any  more  than  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats 
could.  It  was  the  blood  of  the  God-man  that 
finished  transgression  and  made  an  end  of  sin. 
The  mind  of  the  new  century  may  reject  for  a 
time  the  substitutionary  sacrifice  of  Emmanuel. 
The  modern  mind  will  always  reject  the 
miserable  theory  that  the  death  of  another 
martyr  can  do  anything  to  help  the  world  in 


THE  WATERSHED  85 

its  plight  of  sin  and  guilt.     Christ  died  as  man, 
but  He  died  as  God.     He  laid  down  His  life 
for  us.     He  had  power  to  lay  it  down,  and  He 
used  that   power.      It  was  not   the   nails  that 
held    Him    to    the    Tree,  but   the    bonds  and 
cords,  the  ancient  prophecies  and  mysteries  of 
love.     He  died  as  Victim,  but  He   also  died 
as  Priest.     The  Lord  reigned  from  the  Tree. 
Where  the  word  of  a  king  is,  there  is  power, 
and  the  word  of  the  King  was  heard  from  the 
Cross,    where    He    taught,    indeed,    as    One 
having  authority.     '*  Father,  forgive  them,  for 
they  know  not  what   they  do,"   was  the   first 
prayer   of   the    Immaculate    Lamb    from    the 
Altar,    and    surely    it    is    answered    in    every 
forgiven  soul  among  us.     *'  To-day  shalt  thou 
be  with  Me  in  paradise."      When   He  spoke 
that  promise  He  dismissed  the  cherubim  with 
the  flaming  sword,  and  opened  the  road  to  the 
Tree  of  Life,  opened  it  to  one  poor  thief  in 
the  last  hour  of  His  mortal  trial.     Verily  the 
day  of  His  power  was  the  day  of  His  Cross. 
So  we  look  to  Him  and  see  in  His  Cross  not 
the  example  of  a  meek  martyr,   not  a  moral 


86  THE  WATERSHED 

influence,  but  an  actual  and  irreversible 
triumph,  the  bringing  in  of  a  new  order,  the 
I  ending  of  the  old.  No  man  Christ,  no  angel 
^»  Christ,  no  half-Divine  Christ  could  suffice  us. 
The  Christ  Who  suffered  and  died  for  us 
yielded  Himself  of  His  royal  will  in  sacrifice 
that  He  might  restore  His  guilty  people  to 
the  lost  rank  and  franchises  of  the  sons  of 
God.  So  by  faith  we  lay  our  hands  on  His 
dear  Head  and  confess  our  sins.  Believing, 
we  rejoice  to  see  the  curse  removed.  The 
truth  is  gloriously  set  forth  in  many  of  your 
Methodist  hymns. 

O  Jesus  my  Hope, 

For  me  offered  up, 
Who  with  clamour  pursued  Thee  to  Calvary's  top. 

The  Blood  Thou  hast  shed. 

For  me  let  it  plead, 
And  declare  Thou  hast  died  in  Thy  murderer's  stead. 

Or, 

His  death  is  my  plea ; 

My  Advocate  see, 
And  hear  the  Blood  speak  that  hath  answered  for  me. 

(2)  Nor    is    the    Deity    of  Christ    less    im- 
portant when  we  consider  the  relation  of  His 


THE   WATERSHED  87 

death  to  human  suffering.  The  sense  of  sin 
may  be  weak,  but  the  sense  of  pain  was  never 
stronger  than  it  is  now.  The  springs  of 
sorrow  are  full  to  the  very  lips.  Lightness 
of  heart  has  gone  out  of  us,  and  the  monotone 
of  sadness  is  to  be  heard  in  most  of  our 
noblest  literature.  We  are  already  far  past 
the  optimism  of  even  thirty  years  ago.  If 
you  tell  a  man  that  Christ  was  the  chief  of  the 
noble  army  of  martyrs,  he  will  answer  that 
you  have  merely  increased  his  difficulty  and 
despair.  Of  old  time  unbelievers  assumed 
that  the  heart  of  things  was  righteous  and 
tender.  It  is  this  assumption  that  nowadays 
men  will  not  make.  They  must  have  a  proof 
that  it  is  so,  and  the  only  proof  that  will 
suffice  them  is  that  God  Himself  became 
partaker  of  our  suffering.  The  Titan  of 
modern  literature  was  prescient  when  he  said, 
''  If  I  were  God  the  woes  of  the  world  would 
break  my  heart."  The  only  answer  that  can 
be  given  is  that  the  woes  of  the  world  did 
break  God's  heart  when  He  died  upon  the 
Cross.     The    line    of   martyrs    has    stretched 


88  THE  WATERSHED 

SO  long  and  so  far  that  men  demand  from 
us  the  news  of  the  Suffering  that  hallows 
all  sufferings,  the  Sacrifice  which  consecrates 
all  sacrifices.     The  optimism  of  Browning's — 


W  God's  in  His  heaven, 

'I 

All's  right  with  the  world, 


1\ 


jj  falls  on  deaf  ears  to-day.  If  God  is  merely 
■.  in  His  heaven,  all  is  wrong  with  the  world. 
It  is  our  business  not  to  abandon  but  to  ex- 
pand the  great  truth  that  God  in  Christ 
suffered  and  died  to  take  away  our  suffering 
and  our  death.  The  gospel  to  the  generation 
of  sufferers  is  that  the  sufferings  of  His 
people  were  the  thorns  in  the  crown  which 
Christ  wore  as  a  fair  mitre  ;  and  that  these 
sufferings  ended  when  they  clasped  the  Sacred 
Head. 

I  might  give  many  illustrations  of  the 
trend  of  deeper  thought,  but  two  must  suffice. 
Whatever  we  may  think  of  Ibsen  and  Wagner, 
no  one  can  deny  that  they  have  profoundly 
meditated  on  the  tragedy  of  the  world,  and  that 
they  have  affected  to  an  extraordinary  degree 


THE   WATERSHED  89 

the  mind  of  humanity.  Wagner  has  been 
taunted  by  two  famous  critics,  both  un- 
believers, with  his  continual  dwelling  on  re- 
demption. The  one  idea  that  remained  with 
him,  and  pursued  him  all  his  life,  was  the  idea 
of  redemption.  Of  Ibsen  it  has  been  said 
that  three  ideas  dominated  his  thinking  and 
writing — original  sin,  the  sense  of  guilt,  and 
redemption.  The  same  critic.  Max  Nordau, 
says  :  "  The  most  important  theological  obses- 
sion of  Ibsen  is  the  saving  act  of  Christ,  the 
redemption  of  the  guilty  by  a  voluntary 
acceptance  of  their  guilt.  This  devolution  of 
sin  upon  a  Lamb  of  Sacrifice  occupies  the 
same  position  in  Ibsen's  drama  as  it  does  in 
Richard  Wagner's."  I  take  this  to  mean  that 
these  searching  thinkers,  not  content  with  the 
shallow  versions  of  Christianity,  sought  for 
the  deep  mystery  of  the  universe  unveiled  in 
Christ  the  Lord. 

(3)  The  resurrection  can  only  be  under- 
stood as  the  resurrection  of  the  God-man.  If 
Christ  had  been  less  than  God,  I  could  under- 
stand the   force  of  many  difficulties.     If   He 


90  THE  WATERSHED 

was  God,  it  was  not  possible  that  He  should  be 
holden  of  death.  It  was  not  possible  that  He 
should  see  corruption.  He  laid  down  His  life 
of  His  own  will,  and  of  His  own  will  He  took 
His  life  again.  Three  days  and  three  nights 
He  was  to  lie  in  the  grave,  but  for  the  elect's 
sake  the  days  were  shortened,  and  very  early 
in  the  morning  He  burst  the  bonds  of  the 
tomb.  Nor  could  the  God-man  rise  for  Him- 
self alone — 

Among  the  sleeping  dead  alone  He  woke, 

And  blessed  with  outstretched  hands  the  host  around. 

Did  He  hear  them  say  in  their  slumber, 
**  Think  of  me,  I  pray  Thee,  when  it  shall  be 
well  with  Thee,  and  speak  for  me  unto  the 
King,  that  He  may  bring  me  out  of  this 
prison."  "  Draw  me  ;  we  will  run  after  Thee." 
He  heard,  understood,  remembers,  and  at  the 
voice  of  the  Archangel  these  little  hills  in  the 
churchyard  will  one  day  rejoice  on  every  side. 
This  is  the  end,  then,  of  the  stream — 

One  to  the  Peaceful  Sea. 


THE  WATERSHED  91 

III 

But  we  must  say  a  word  on  the  preachers 
of  this  Gospel.  We,  risen  and  crucified, 
preach  Christ  Divine,  crucified,  risen.  Note 
the  order — risen  and  crucified.  It  is  the  order 
of  St.  Paul :  ''  That  I  may  know  Him,  and  the 
power  of  His  resurrection,  and  the  fellowship 
of  His  sufferings."  Not  the  fellowship  of  His 
sufferings  and  the  power  of  His  resurrection, 
but  first  the  power  and  then  the  fellowship. 
When  we  believe  in  the  risen  Christ  there 
flows  into  us  the  strength  and  joy  of  His 
Spirit,  the  power  of  His  resurrection.  It  is 
this  power  of  His  resurrection  that  is  the  chief 
token  of  the  supernatural  Church  to  the  world. 
With  profound  insight,  Ibsen,  in  his  drama, 
makes  Julian  apostatise  because  he  misses  joy 
in  the  Christian  religion.  "To  thee  I  make 
my  offering,  O  Dionysus,  God  of  Ecstasy, 
who  dost  lift  up  the  souls  of  mortals  out  of 
abasement,  and  ennoble  them."  The  Church 
of  every  time  is  tempted  to  forget  that 
all    its   doing    and    all    its    suffering    are    to 


92  THE  WATERSHED 

be    met    In    the    power   of    His   resurrection. 
The 

Dim  perplexities  and  hopes  that  wane, 
Doubt  and  the  ghastly  riddle,  sin  and  pain. 

These  we  are  to  encounter  in  the  power 
of  His  resurrection.  Our  own  difficulties  of 
faith  we  are  to  meet  in  the  power  of  His 
resurrection.  Our  own  frequent  failures  and 
humiliations  and  trials  in  work  we  are  to  meet 
in  the  power  of  His  resurrection.  Our  own 
personal  griefs  of  missing  faces  and  loosened 
hands  we  must  bear  in  the  power  of  His 
resurrection.  The  unbelieving  world  we 
must  confront  in  the  power  of  His  resurrec- 
tion. Whatever  there  may  be  of  indifference, 
of  hostility,  of  persecution,  we  have  to  meet 
them  all  in  the  power  of  His  resurrection, 
and  be  made  more  than  conquerors  through 
Him  that  loved  us.  You  see,  I  have  been 
describing  the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings, 
which  means  each  bearing  the  Cross  after 
Jesus.  The  world  demands  to  see  that  Cross. 
Except  it  beholds  the  print  of  the  nails  it  will 
not  believe.     It  has  no  call  to  believe  in  any 


THE  WATERSHED  93 

Christianity  that  does  not  involve  crucifixion. 
But  the  world  must  not  see  us  staggering 
under  our  crosses.  It  must  not  see  us  broken- 
hearted, weak  and  weary.  It  must  see  that 
we  are  in  the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings, 
and  that  we  are  supported  in  that  fellowship 
by  a  supernatural  power.  So  we,  risen  and 
crucified,  preach  Christ  Divine,  crucified,  and 
risen. 

One  word  on  the  special  circumstances  in 
which  we  meet — the  opening  of  this  noble 
hall.  I  have  once  and  again  expressed  my 
growing  conviction  that  the  Methodists  have 
shown  the  way  to  other  churches.  Our  great 
central  places  of  worship  must  ultimately  be 
worked  on  these  lines,  or  close.  Already  I 
have  seen  the  magnificent  work  accomplished 
in  London,  in  Manchester,  in  Birmingham, 
and  elsewhere.  I  believe  the  work  must 
greatly  extend,  and  that  it  will  prove  one 
of  the  most  fruitful  branches  of  Christian 
service.  I  rejoice  in  the  success  that  God 
has  given  to  the  workers  here,  and  fully 
believe  that  by  His  blessing  this  noble  build- 


94  THE   WATERSHED 


ing  will  become  a  home  of  souls,  that  its 
influence  will  extend  over  this  great  city, 
over  the  country,  over  the  world.  Your 
mission  is  to  the  Church,  to  the  world,  and, 
not  least,  to  the  church  outside  the  churches. 
You  have  recognised  that  this  is  a  great  and 
growing  church — the  company  of  men  and 
women  who  set  their  hope  in  Christ,  and 
seek  to  keep  His  commandments,  and  yet 
remain  outside  the  organised  churches,  and 
complain  that  they  find  no  refreshment  and 
no  aid  in  their  services.  This  class  includes, 
I  believe,  by  far  the  larger  number  of  the 
intellectual  influences  in  this  country,  and  the 
number  grows.  It  includes,  I  believe,  multi- 
tudes of  our  intelligent  working  men.  You 
have  a  mission  to  the  apathetic  world.  We 
j  hear  it  said  continually  that  the  danger  is 
'  indifference,  that  people  do  not  care,  that 
\  they  get  on  very  well  without  religion.  When 
such  halls  as  these  are  opened  I  have  observed 
that  the  people  crowd  to  them.  But  however 
this  may  be,  if  we  are  to  awaken  people,  we 
must  first  awaken  God.     We   must   fall   back 


THE  WATERSHED  95 

on  the  suppliant  almightiness  of  prayer.  We 
complain  of  the  decline  in  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  and  remedies  are  suggested.  But 
I  have  not  seen  it  stated  that  Christ  faced  the 
same  difficulty,  and  met  it  in  His  own  way. 
Said  He,  "  The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous, 
but  the  labourers  are  few."  There  is  a 
decline  of  candidates  for  the  ministry.  What 
then  ?  "  Pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest,  that  He  will  send  forth  labourers  into 
His  harvest."  What  would  bethought  if  you 
had  a  week  of  prayer  meetings  to  plead  with 
God  on  this  subject  ?  Would  no  one  attend  ? 
More  than  you  think  would  attend.  More 
will  be  done  in  that  way  than  by  giving  better 
salaries  and  better  education.  But  prayer  is 
no  easy  thing — prevailing  prayer.  We  must 
waken  the  Lord.  For  this  He  will  be  en- 
quired of  He  says,  "  Awake,  awake,  put  on 
strength,  O  arm  of  the  Lord ;  awake,  as  in 
the  ancient  days."  Nor  will  He  wake  at  once. 
He  will  refuse  till  we  ask  Him  more  earnestly. 
He  says,  *'  Let  Me  go,"  that  we  may  answer, 
''  I    will  not   let   Thee  go  except   Thou  bless 


96  THE  WATERSHED 

me."  He  says,  "  It  Is  not  meet  to  take  the 
children's  bread  and  cast  it  to  dogs,"  that  we 
may  reply,  "  Truth,  Lord :  yet  the  dogs  eat 
of  the  crumbs  which  fall  from  their   master's 

table." 

Oh  !  how  strangely  thou  eludest 

Those,  dear  Lord,  that  have  believed  ! 

Yet  eluding,  ne'er  deludest, 

Nor  deceiv'st,  nor  art  deceived  ! 

We  must  waken  God  before  we  waken  the 
dim  sunken  masses.  What  Savonarola  cried 
in  the  crisis  of  his  church  I  would  repeat, 
-  Wake  Christ !     Wake  Christ !  " 


THE    MESSAGE    FOR   MIDNIGHT^ 

A  friend  of  mine  in  his  journey  is  come  to  me,  and  I  have 
nothing  to  set  before  him. — LUKE  xi.  6. 

These  words  many  of  us  must  have  often  felt 
to  be  deeply  applicable  to  our  own  plight. 
The  time  is  midnight,  the  suppliant  is  our 
friend.  We  are  linked  to  him  by  that  sad  tie 
of  brotherhood  which  unites  us  poor  human 
beings,  strong  only  in  our  power  to  suffer. 
The  friend  is  on  his  journey,  he  is  a  wayfarer. 
He  is,  like  us,  a  traveller  on  this  troublesome, 
rough  road  of  life.  Wearied  and  bleeding  and 
burdened,  he  urges  his  request  at  midnight. 
Now,  it  is  easy  to  find  a  gospel  for  the 
morning,  but  the  morning  is  itself  a  gospel. 
It  is  easy  to  find  a  gospel  for  the  noon,  the 
time   of  the   greatest    brilliance    and    deepest 

^  Annual  sermon  of  the  National  Free  Church  Council,  preached  at 
Bradford,  Tuesday,  March  ii,  1902. 

97  H 


98  THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT 

glow   of  existence,  when   the  business  of  Hfe 
and    the    pursuit    of   pleasure   absorb   all    our 
thoughts.      But  the  day  wears  on  to  evening. 
We    fight    at    first    with    what    arms   we    can 
command,  what  we  can  wield  best,  the  lightest, 
and  the  quickest,  and  the  most  baffling.      But 
at  last  we  see  that  we  are  fighting  in  vain,  and 
midnight    overcomes    us.       We    are    suddenly- 
brought  face  to   face  with  the  limits  of  human 
strength.     We  find  that  we  are  not  gods,  but 
only   men.     Then   with   a  heart  that  is  worn, 
and  has  transmitted  its  weariness  to  the  face, 
we    plead    with    our    friend.       The    friend    is 
stricken  with  impotence.     With  a  sudden  rush 
of  helpless  pity,  he  realises  that  he  has  nothing 
to  set  before  the  wayfarer  who  has  reached  the 
midnight  which  seems  the  end,  the  midnight 
in  which  no  morrow  buds. 

But  Christianity  is  the  religion  for  midnight. 
Midnight  in  Holy  Scripture  is  the  hour  of 
God's  great  interpositions  and  deliverances. 
At  midnight  the  children  of  Israel  were  led  out 
with  a  high  hand.  At  midnight  the  angel  of 
the    Lord   smote   the   camp   of  the  Assyrians. 


THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT  99 

At  midnight  the  iron  gate  opened  of  his  own 
accord.  At  midnight  the  prisoners  heard  Paul 
and  Silas  singing.  At  midnight  the  Lord  of 
Life  woke  in  the  rocky  grave  and  said,  ''  I  will 
arise  and  go  to  My  Father."  As  it  is  written, 
**  At  midnight  I  will  rise  and  give  thanks  unto 
Thee  because  of  Thy  righteous  judgments." 
When  He  had  given  thanks.  He  broke  the 
bars  of  iron  and  shattered  the  gates  of  death. 
And  at  midnight  we  who  preach  Christ  can 
preach  to  whosoever  seeks  us  the  delivering 
God.  That  is  what  we  have  to  set  before  the 
pleading  wayfarer  at  midnight.  We  have  to 
set  before  him  God  the  Father.  We  have 
gone  back,  many  of  us,  from  the  simplicity  of 
our  message.  It  is  written  that  Christ  died,  j 
the  Righteous  for  the  unrighteous.  To  what  ' 
end  ?  That  He  might  bring  us  to  God.  The 
whole  object  of  the  Redeemer's  work.  His  ' 
dying,  His  rising.  His  ascension.  His  inter- 
cession, is  to  bring  men  to  God  the  Father.  ' 
It  is  when  we  are  brought  to  God  that  the 
fever  leaves  us,  and  we  are  at  rest.  Too 
much  have  we  preached,  many  of  us,  not  the 


/ 


loo  THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT 

Giver,  but  the  gifts.  The  soul  cries  out, 
"  Not  Thine,  but  Thee."  Let  us  come  to  the 
feet  of  God  the  Father,  and  all  is  well.  We 
cannot  have  the  gifts  without  the  Giver,  yet 
we  are  often  tempted  to  believe  that  it  is 
possible.  We  are  tempted  to  rest  in  lower, 
more  intelligible  interpretations  of  Christ's 
work,  but  they  are  incomplete.  There  can  be 
no  end  short  of  this — that  He  might  bring  us 
to  God.  God  is  the  answer  to  all  prayer,  the 
supply  of  all  need. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  spend  much  time  in 
describing  the  midnights  of  the  soul.  They 
are  midnights  of  remorse,  of  sorrow,  of  despair. 
It  is  midnight  when  our  thousand  hopes  die 
together  at  one  blow  of  fate.  It  is  midnight 
when  our  landmarks  change,  when  great 
shadows  blot  and  chill  the  world,  when  a 
sudden  darkness  falls  on  all  things.  These 
midnights  seem  completely  to  overthrow  not 
only  our  natural  strength,  but  even  the 
defences  of  our  faith.  But  if  Christ  brings  us 
to  God  the  morning  breaks  and  triumphs. 


THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT  loi 

I 

We  read  In  the  Romance  of  Grace  the 
words,  "  Thy  brother  was  dead  and  is  alive 
again,  and  was  lost  and  is  found."  The  order 
is  a  true  order.  To  bring  home  the  lost  is  a 
greater  and  harder  thing  by  far  than  to  raise 
the  dead.  Dr.  Dale  wrote  to  Archbishop  Tait 
a  letter  of  consolation  on  his  son's  death,  in 
which  he  said  that  it  was  so  much  better  to 
lose  a  child  by  death  than  to  lose  one  by  sin. 
We  all  understand  this,  but  for  the  present  let 
us  take  sin  and  death  in  the  order  of  time. 
What  can  we  say  to  the  friend,  the  wayfarer 
who  comes  to  us  in  the  midnight  of  sin  ?  Let 
us  learn  from  the  story  of  the  Prodigal  Son. 
We  have  told,  and  we  have  done  right  to  tell, 
what  Christ  accomplished  when,  as  Priest 
and  as  Victim,  He  offered  up  the  evening 
sacrifice  of  the  world.  We  have  preached 
how  in  His  substitutionary  offering  He 
released  His  believers  from  the  guilt,  the 
penalty,  and  the  power  of  sin.  We  have 
discussed   as  theologians,  and  we  have  done 


I02  THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT 

well  to  discuss,  the  meaning  of  forgive- 
ness. We  have  tried  to  discover  how  far 
forgiveness  means  the  release  from  conse- 
quences, the  breaking  of  the  close  -  linked 
chain.  Yes,  but  there  is  a  simpler  and  deeper 
word  than  any  of  these.  Christ  by  His  living 
and  dying  brings  us  to  God.  We  are  forgiven 
when  we  are  brought  to  God.  Salvation  is 
the  meeting  between  the  prodigal  son  and  the 
loving  Father.  When  they  meet,  when  the 
sinner's  lips  are  kissed  into  a  sweet  silence, 
when  his  words  are  hushed  in  a  great  burst  of 
forgiving  love — that  is  forgiveness.  In  other 
words,  forgiveness  is  reconciliation.  If  we  are 
reconciled  to  God  by  the  death  of  His  Son  all 
is  done  for  us,  all  is  well.  There  is  no  fear  of 
any  future. 

Say  nothing  of  pardon,  the  darkness  has  gone. 
Shall  pardon  be  asked  for  the  night  by  the  sun  ? 
No  word  of  the  past,  of  the  future  no  fear, 
'Tis  enough,  my  beloved,  to  know  thou  art  here. 

That  is  what  our  Father  says  to  us.  He  ran 
a  great  way  to  meet  us,  even  to  the  Cross. 
When  He  meets  us  His  love  thrills  through 


THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT  103 

every  fibre  of  our  souls,  and  wraps  us  in  a 
warm  mist  of  dreams,  dreams  that  come  true. 
Or  rather,  it  is  the  golden  hour  when  dreams 
and  fears  alike  end  at  the  touch  of  reality. 
Well  may  the  curtain  fall.  Even  amongst  our- 
selves when  we  forgive — and  I  think  a  true 
forgiveness  of  man  by  man  is  always  a  mutual 
forgiveness — we  feel  that  in  a  true  sense  the 
end  has  been  reached.  In  William  Blake's 
words — 

Therefore  through  all  eternity 
I  forgive  you,  you  forgive  me. 
As  our  dear  Redeemer  said, 
This  the  Wine,  and  this  the  Bread. 

But  you  may  ask  what  comes  after  the  hour 
of  rapture  and  rest  1  When  the  prodigal  and 
his  father  waken  on  the  morrow,  they  will 
have  to  face  many  things.  They  will  have,  it 
may  be,  to  face  them  and  to  fight  them  even 
to  the  grave.  Many  days  the  world  will  seem 
covered  with  a  chill  hopelessness.  Think  how 
one  result  after  another  will  come  out  of  the 
wasteful,  wicked  past.  The  bills  will  come  in, 
and   must   be   settled   somehow.      Retribution 


I04  THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT 

will  arrive,  physical  and  spiritual,  to  the  agony 
and  surprise  of  both.  They  will  ask  a  hundred 
times  whether  God  can  be  persuaded  to  lay 
His  hand  on  the  great  millstones  that  grind 
and  grind  eternally,  as  it  seems.  Will  He 
unwind  the  coil  of  circumstance  and  make 
things  be  as  if  they  had  never  been  ?  Yes,  it 
is  all  true,  but  what  has  happened  is  that  the 
father  and  the  child  are  friends.  Now  they 
meet  the  consequences  together  as  they  best 
may.  Love  transforms  and  redeems  all  things. 
If  this  is  true  in  earthly  forgiveness,  and  we 
know  it  is,  how  much  more  true  it  is  of  Divine 
forgiveness  !  It  is  God  and  the  Father  and 
the  erring  child  who  have  to  meet  what  comes, 
and  there  is  no  fear.  They  have  to  face  the 
elder  brother  and  worse  enemies  by  far,  more 
bitter,  more  irreconcilable.  But  two  face 
them,  and  one  of  the  two  is  God,  and  if  God 
be  for  us  who  can  be  against  us  ?  What  will 
God  do,  what  will  He  not  do  to  revive,  purify, 
and  save  the  soul  that  has  trusted  and  loved 
His  Son  ?  He  will  give  us  no  more  to  bear 
than  it  is  needful  we  should  bear,  and  He  will 


THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT  105 

give  US  His  strength  for  endurance.  It  will 
be  enough  for  us  to  know  that  the  Father  is 
reconciled,  and  that  hand  in  hand  we  are  un- 
doing the  past  and  making  the  future.  So  I 
say  let  us  preach  to  the  friend  at  midnight  the 
love  of  God  the  Father.  It  is  from  the 
fountain  of  His  love  that  Christ's  Atonement 
came.  The  Son  Himself,  Who  was  free 
indeed,  came  to  do  the  Father's  will,  ''that 
the  world  may  know  that  I  love  the  Father ; 
and  as  the  Father  gave  Me  commandment, 
even  so  I  do,"  He  said  as  He  arose  and  went 
thence.  He  has  not  done  His  work  upon  us 
until  He  has  brought  us  to  the  Father's  feet, 
until  He  can  say,  ''  Of  those  that  Thou  hast 
given  Me  I  have  lost— NONE." 

I  cannot  but  think  that  the  present  type  of 
Christianity  is  in  many  respects  short  of  the 
Old  Testament  type.  How  often  do  we  find 
in  these  days  the  passion  that  thrills  through 
the  Psalms,  the  delight  in  God  apart  from  all 
His  gifts?  '*0  God,  Thou  art  my  God  ; 
early  will  I  seek  Thee  :  my  soul  thirsteth  for 
Thee,  my  flesh  longeth  for  Thee  in  a  dry  and 


io6  THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT 


thirsty  land,  where  no  water  Is ;  to  see  Thy 
power  and  Thy  glory,  so  as  I  have  seen  Thee 
in  the  sanctuary.  ...  I  remember  Thee  upon 
my  bed,  and  meditate  on  Thee  in  the  night- 
watches.  .  .  .  My  soul  followeth  hard  after 
Thee  :  Thy  right  hand  upholdeth  me."  To 
find  God,  to  enjoy  God — that  is  our  all  in  all. 


II 

What  is  true  of  the  midnight  of  sin  is  true 
of  the  midnight  of  death.  The  Christian 
thought  is  that  death  brings  us  and  our  God 
together.  The  literature  of  Christian  consola- 
tion, especially  in  recent  times,  has  done  little 
justice  to  this  great  truth.  It  has  dwelt  upon 
death  as  the  knitter  of  severed  ties,  as  the 
restorer  of  those  loved  long  since  and  lost 
awhile.  It  has  contemplated  death  as  the 
severer.  We  know  how  the  heart  craves  for 
such  comfort,  and  we  know  that  such  comfort 
is  true  and  Divine,  but  we  wrong  ourselves 
and  we  wrong  the  Father  when  we  think  of 
death    first    as    bringing    us    to    our    beloved. 


THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT  107 

The  sting  of  death  is  drawn  when  we  know 
that  death  brings  us  to  God.  Yet  let  us  dwell 
on  the  error,  if  error  it  is,  gently.  We  have 
experienced  the  fearful  sense  of  the  irrevocable 
that  death  brings  with  it.  Most  of  us  have 
known  how  all  love  and  all  tenderness  seem 
turned  to  dust  and  ashes,  mocked  by  the 
ghost  of  sweet  things  dead.  We  know  how 
the  heart  is  torn  with  passionate  longing, 
passionate  regret.  Flavour  and  savour  go  out 
of  life.  I  cannot  explain  how  it  is,  but  for 
most  of  us  it  is  true  that  no  pleasure  is  attain- 
able, save  through  those  we  love.  It  may  be 
we  have  longed  for  many  things,  for  all  the 
good  gifts  that  the  world  holds.  After  years 
of  frustration  our  moment  of  triumph  comes. 
The  river  of  pleasure  runs  to  our  feet,  and 
it  is  full  of  water.  Yet  somehow  it  never 
reaches  us.  Even  if  it  bore  with  it  the  offer- 
ings of  the  universe  it  would  be  of  no  avail. 
We  stand  by  the  stream  still  athirst.  Its 
waters  are  beyond  the  reach  of  our  lips. 
They  are  abundant,  but  we  have  no  cup 
wherewith  to  stoop  down  and  drink.      It  was 


io8  THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT 

for  a  mother,  a  wife,  a  child,  that  we  were 
working.  It  was  for  their  sakes  that  we 
craved  reward  and  recognition.  They  are 
gone,  and  the  recognition  means  nothing  to 
us.  We  long  for  the  earlier  days,  when  there 
was  for  us  but  a  scanty  rivulet,  but  we  had  our 
cup  to  drink  from  it.  The  desire  has  been 
achieved,  perhaps  beyond  the  dream  of  our 
earlier  ambition,  but  we  were  happier  far  in 
the  days  of  struggle.  Says  a  bereaved  father, 
**  When  the  last  long  breath  was  drawn,  and 
the  limp,  deserted  body  was  all  that  was  left 
to  me  of  my  thirteen  years  of  passionate 
devotion,  my  pride  and  hope,  and  the  nursing 
care  of  so  many  years,  I  walked  out  into  the 
midnight,  and  left  my  boy  to  death.  It  was 
only  a  child's  death,  a  common  thing — almost 
as  common  as  family  existence — but  it  gave  a 
new  colour  to  my  life,  established  for  ever  a 
sympathy  with  the  common  grief  and  a  com- 
munity of  sorrow  with  all  bereft  fathers  and 
mothers  in  the  premature  dissipation  of  the 
hopes  of  their  future,  and  the  lapse  of  a  dear 
companionship  into  the  eternal  void.     This  is 


THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT  109 

the  human  brotherhood  of  sorrow,  sacred, 
ennobling,  sanctifying  where  it  abides,  the 
deepest  lesson  in  the  school  of  life.  My  feet 
have  wandered  far,  and  my  thoughts  still 
farther,  from  the  place  and  beliefs  of  my  child- 
hood, but  whatever  and  wherever  I  may  be, 
this  grief  at  times  catches  me  and  holds  me  in 
a  pause  of  dumb  tears.  I  have  never  been 
able  to  find  a  consolation  for  that  loss,  for  it 
carried  with  it  the  future  and  its  best  dreams." 
The  Word  of  God  meets  us  with  an  answer  to 
this  need.  If  it  had  not  met  us,  it  would  have 
been  no  Word  of  God.  Love  wanders  to 
every  desert  and  calls  to  every  sea  and  knocks 
at  every  grave,  and  demands  its  own  back 
again,  and  God,  Who  is  love,  cannot,  will  not, 
dare  not  refuse.  Them  also  which  sleep  in 
Jesus  will  God  bring  with  Him.  We  can 
preach  all  that,  and  preach  it  from  our  hearts, 
but  death  brings  us  first  of  all  to  Christ  and  to 
God.  I  am  afraid  that  modern  preaching  has 
led  many  to  think  of  a  future  blessed  life  in 
which  God  is  as  much  in  the  background  as 
He  is  here.     There  is,  I  am  sure,  a  belief  that 


no  THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT 

in  the  next  world  the  relations  between  our- 
selves and  our  beloved  will  be  brought  to  a 
perfection  of  tenderness  and  security,  and  God 
will  lie  in  the  distance,  still  the  background, 
still  the  helper,  still  the  answerer  of  prayer, 
and  nothing  nearer.  We  need  more  than 
that.  Lowell  wrote  in  his  youth  of  the  lost 
ones — 

Whose  comin'  step  ther'  's  ears  thet  won't 
No,  not  lifelong  leave  off  awaitin'. 

And  he  lived  to  say,  '''Who  knows?'  and 
'  Do  I  really  wish  it  may  be  ? '  are  all  the 
nineteenth  century  has  left  us  of  the  simple 
faith  we  began  life  with." 

The  faith  in  immortality  will  never  be 
maintained  without  a  lively  faith  in  God  the 
Father.  In  the  New  Testament  to  depart  is 
to  be  with  Christ,  which  is  very  far  better. 
We  know  that  when  He  shall  be  manifested 
we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him 
as  He  is.  The  veils  of  time  and  sense  and 
distance  will  be  done  away,  and  we  shall  see 
face  to  face.  It  is  He  Who  will  meet  us  on 
the  further  shore  with  His  own  most  blessed 


THE  MESS  A  GE  FOR  MIDNIGHT  1 1 1 

words,  ''  Behold  My  hands  and  My  feet,  that 
it  is  I — Myself."  We  shall  find  our  dead 
alive  again,  alive  in  Him.  Nor  is  that  enough. 
He  will  bring  us  to  God,  and  God's  love  will 
draw  us  closer  and  closer  into  its  warm  folds. 
The  great  thought  of  the  future  is,  as  the 
Bible  and  the  saints  and  the  doctors  have 
told  us,  the  Beatific  Vision — that  Beatific 
Vision  which  we  can  name  indeed,  but  beyond 
naming  can  do  no  more.  Nay,  St.  Paul  tells 
us  of  an  end,  the  end  of  ends,  when  the  Son 
Himself  is  made  subject  to  Him  that  did 
subject  all  things  unto  Him,  that  God  may  be 
all  in  all. 

I  have  no  time  to  point  out  how  terrible 
the  conception  of  immortality  without  God 
would  be.  Man's  chief  end  is  to  glorify  God, 
and  to  enjoy  Him  for  ever.  But  again  I  ask 
if  we  have  not  descended,  many  of  us,  even 
from  the  level  of  the  Old  Testament.  Who 
of  us  can  say  with  full  sincerity  of  heart, 
**  Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  Thee,  and  there 
is  none  on  earth  that  I  desire  beside  Thee  " .? 
St.   Paul   could  have  answered.     For  him   to 


112  THE  MESSAGE  FOR  MIDNIGHT 

live  was  Christ,  and  to  die  was  gain,  because 
to  die  meant  to  have  more  of  Christ.  He 
looked  for  his  loved  ones,  like  the  rest  of  us. 
He  looked  to  see  them  transfigured  in  the 
glow  of  the  soft  eternal  sunshine  :  but  to  St. 
Paul  his  dear  ones  were  robed  and  homed  in 
Christ,  and  it  was  for  Christ,  for  God  that  he 
waited.  If  we  love  as  he  loved,  we  shall  find 
as  he  found  that  the  change  from  grace  to 
glory  is  less  by  far  than  the  change  from 
nature  to  grace.  In  Russia  and  in  the  great 
North  lands  I  have  read  that  sunset  is  almost 
in  the  north,  and  the  sunrise  takes  it  by  the 
hand.  In  St.  Paul's  triumphant  dying  the 
rose  of  evening  became  suddenly  and  silently 
the  rose  of  dawn.  And  so,  dear  brethren,  let 
us  preach  God  the  Father.  "  O  Zion,  that 
bringest  good  tidings,  get  thee  up  into  the 
high  mountain :  O  Jerusalem,  that  bringest 
good  tidings,  lift  up  thy  voice  with  strength  ; 
lift  it  up,  be  not  afraid ;  say  unto  the  cities  of 
Judah,  Behold  your  God  !  " 


'^I    WILL    BUILD    MY   CHURCH"^ 

And  Simon  Peter  answered  and  said,  Thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  .  .  . 
thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  My  Church  ; 
and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it. — Matt.  xvi. 
i6,  i8. 

The  words  were  drawn  from  Christ  by  the 
confession  of  Peter.  The  disciple  said, 
"  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living 
God,"  and  the  Saviour  answered,  '*  Thou  art 
Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  My 
Church ;  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  it." 

I 

In  many  lives,  by  no  means  in  all,  the 
purpose  for  which  life  was  given,  for  the 
fulfilment   of  which    life   is    to  be  spent,  dis- 

^  Annual  sermon  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Association,  preached 
in  Belfast,  April  13,  1902. 

113,  I- 


114  "/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH" 

engages  itself  in  one  lustrous  moment.  The 
clouds  are  scattered,  and  the  meaning  of  life  is 
written  as  with  a  pencil  of  lightning.  This 
does  not  mean  that  all  is  new.  A  man  may, 
in  the  depths  of  his  feeling  and  thought,  be 
aware  of  his  place  and  work,  and  yet  things 
change  when  the  significance  of  his  destiny 
crystallises  itself  in  a  sentence.  As  Browning 
makes  Childe  Roland  say — 

Burningly  it  came  on  me  all  at  once, 
This  was  the  place  ! 

So  men  have  said  to  themselves  in  one  of 
these  moments  that  count  as  years  in  a  life- 
time, these  moments  when  mists  lift  off — I  will 
make  this  discovery — I  will  write  this  book — 
I  will  love  this  woman — I  will  serve  this  cause 
— I  will  extend  this  Empire.  It  is  as  if  they 
had  suddenly  turned  and  seen  the  revealing 
angel.  So  our  Lord,  Who  from  the  beginning 
knew  His  work,  put  everything  into  the  words 
— "  I  will  build  My  Church."  He  had  been 
building  it  in  a  sense  from  before  the  founda- 
tion of  the   world.     He  had  been  building  it 


"/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH''  115 

in  those  years  of  toil  and  sacrifice.  He  went 
on  to  build  it  till  He  died.  Now  that  He  has 
risen  from  the  dead,  and  ascended  far  above 
all  heavens,  He  is  building  it  still.  He  will 
go  on  building  it  to  the  end  of  the  ages,  till 
the  temple  stands  most  worthy,  and  integral, 
and  fair  before  the  eyes  of  God,  and  angels, 
and  men.  '*  I  will  build  My  Church."  If  you 
read  the  Gospels  carefully  you  will  see  with 
what  strictness  of  application  our  Lord  used 
the  word  ''  My."  He  never  said  "  My  house," 
"  My  lands,"  "  My  books,"  ''  My  wife,"  "  My 
child."  He  said,  "  My  Father,"  "  My  friends," 
"  My  disciples."  When  we  think  of  it  we 
shall  see  that  His  true  possessions  were  His 
Father  and  his  Church,  ''  My  Father,"  ''  My 
Church."  The  mystics  laid  great  stress  on 
that  verse — ''The  kingdom  of  Heaven  is 
like  unto  a  man  who  made  a  marriage  for 
his  son."  That  is,  as  they  interpreted  it, 
the  marriage  was  not  made  for  the  bride, 
but  for  the  bridegroom.  As  if  out  of  His 
great  humility  the  Son  of  God  vouchsafed  to 
require  this  to  complete  His  blessedness,  that 


ii6  "/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH" 

He  should  have  His  spotless  bride  to  share  it. 
"  The  marriage  of  the  Lamb  is  come  "  ;  these 
are  inspired  words  which  describe  the  consum- 
mation. 

II 

Let  us  ask  how  Christ  builds  His  Church. 
I  shall  borrow  from  Ruskin's  famous  book, 
The  Seven  Lamps  of  Architechtre.  As  Ruskin 
himself  says:  ''We  know  not  how  soon  all 
architecture  will  be  vain,  except  that  which 
is  not  made  with  hands."  I  take  three  of  his 
seven  lamps  to  help  us  in  expounding  how 
Christ  builds  His  Church,  how  we  must  build 
it,  if  we  are  to  be  labourers  together  with 
Him.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  the  Lamp 
of  Sacrifice.  The  Church  is  built  on  sacrifice, 
and  by  sacrifice.  It  is  built  on  the  one 
Sacrifice  offered  for  sins  for  ever,  and  built 
by  the  continual  sacrifice  of  the  members, 
on  the  sacrifice  which  will  make  up  at  last 
that  which  is  behind  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ. 
We  may,  and  do,  greatly  misconceive  the 
meaning  of  sacrifice.     We   are    apt    to   think 


"/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH''  117 

that  sacrifice  is  that  which  cuts  athwart  the 
path  of  liking  and  incHnation.  When  we  are 
performing  for  the  sake  of  some  principle  or 
some  person  a  labour  which  is  uncongenial, 
we  readily  suppose  ourselves  to  be  in  the 
path  of  true  sacrifice.  But  if  we  are  con- 
stantly engaged  from  childhood  unto  death 
in  a  labour  that  we  detest,  we  may  be  very 
sure  that  the  task  was  not  ours  at  all,  that 
God  never  meant  us  to  accomplish  it.  Sacrifice, 
in  the  true  sense,  is  doing  our  work  with  de- 
light, but  doing  it  perfectly,  carrying  it  to  the 
utmost.  Before  we  can  carry  it  to  the  utmost 
the  element  of  agony  is  sure  to  come  in. 
Ruskin  says  that  the  difference  between 
ancient  work  and  modern  work  is  that  all 
old  work  nearly  has  been  hard  work,  the 
work  of  those  who  have  gone  to  the  ex- 
tremity of  their  power.  Modern  work,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  the  look  of  money's  worth, 
of  a  lazy  compliance  with  low  conditions,  and 
not  the  full  putting  out  of  strength.  There 
is  an  immense  significance  in  the  expression 
''  taking  pains."     Up  to  a  certain  point  work 


ii8  "/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH» 

is  a  joy,  but  the  true  worker  arrives  at  a  place 
where  he  knows  that  his  work   is  unfinished, 
and  that  in  order  to  finish  it  there  must  be  the 
racking    and    straining    of  all    his    faculty — in 
other  words,  sacrifice.     A  man   of  genius,  an 
artist    in    words    or    colours,    may    be    able, 
without   effort,  to   do   a  book  or  picture  very 
passably.     He  may  yield  to  the  temptation  of 
doing   no   more.       He    may    put    his    creation 
before  the  public,  and   receive  a  modicum  of 
applause,  and   be   content  with  that.      But   in 
his   own    heart    he    is    self-condemned.       He 
should  have  burned  the  book  or  the  picture  and 
started  afresh,  if  he  saw  that  it  was  incomplete 
and    unsatisfactory.       If  he    saw    that    it    was 
incomplete,  but  moving  towards  perfection,  he 
would   have   perfected    it    through   agony  and 
bloody  sweat.     Always  it  is  taking  pains  that 
crowns  you.     It  is  the  last  painful  hour  that 
saves   your  work,  the   hour  spent   at   the  full 
stretch  of  being.     Always  complete  concentra- 
tion  is   an   agonising  concentration.      So  our 
Lord  came  with  delight  to  do  the  will  of  the 
Father.      ''  I    delight   to  do   Thy  will,    O  my 


"/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH''  119 

God  ;  yea,  Thy  law  is  within  My  heart."  And 
up  to  a  certain  day  in  His  days  He  had  His 
share  of  pleasures.  His  life  was  full  of 
thoughts,  and  interests,  and  trials,  and  heart- 
breakings,  but  it  had  in  it  also  recoveries  and 
joyfulness  of  success.  At  last  He  came  within 
the  sight  of  the  Cross.  Might  He  not  have 
turned  aside  and  away?  Might  He  not  have 
said — "  I  have  done  enough  ;  I  have  spoken 
lovely  and  true  words  that  will  tell  on  the 
universe  for  ever.  I  have  healed  the  sick,  I 
have  raised  the  dead,  I  have  cast  out  devils  ; 
freely  I  have  received,  freely  I  have  given, 
and  there  is  no  need  of  more."  If  He  had 
spoken  so  He  would  have  been  still  a  great, 
though  enigmatic  figure  in  human  history. 
He  could  not  have  been  dethroned  from  a 
place  amongst  the  prophets,  but  He  would 
have  left  His  people  unredeemed,  and  His 
work  undone.  So  He  went  on,  but  He  went 
on  to  Calvary  through  Gethsemane.  There 
came  to  Him  the  cup,  brimming  with  tribu- 
lation. In  Gethsemane,  as  the  low  whisper  of 
the  winds  ran  along  the  trees,  there  mingled 


I20  «/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH'' 

with  it  the  sound  of  strong  cries,  and  of  the 
awful  prayer,  **  If  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup 
pass  from  Me  :  nevertheless,  not  My  will,  but 
Thine  be  done."  The  will  of  God  was  done, 
and  it  was  His  will.  He  must  drink  the  cup 
to  the  last  drop,  hold  it  up  reversed,  and 
empty.  Yes,  it  had  to  be.  To  save  us  He 
had  to  be  made  a  curse  for  us,  for  the  sins 
of  His  guilty  people  He  trod  the  winepress 
alone,  and  bore  the  weight  of  the  Divine 
wrath.  If  He  had  not  done  so,  He  could 
have  built  no  Church.  He  might  have  left 
admirers,  a  school,  a  sect,  anything  but  a 
Church.  And  so  the  Lamp  of  Sacrifice  shone 
upon  all  His  way. 

In  the  second  place,  there  is  the  Lamp  of 
Power.  We  see  it  shining  in  these  calm 
words,  *'  I  will  build  My  Church."  Says  the 
French  aphorist :  ''Attempt  difficult  things  as 
though  they  were  easy,  and  easy  things  as 
though  they  were  difficult."  Christ  addressed 
Himself  to  His  long  and  terrible  task  with  a 
certain  repose  of  mind  and  temper.  He  was 
filled  with  the  Spirit.      He  had  the  Sword  of 


"/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH''  121 

the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God.  To 
Christ  the  minister  of  the  Sanctuary  and  of 
the  true  Tabernacle  which  the  Lord  pitched, 
and  not  man,  the  problem  presented  itself  as 
it  presented  itself  to  all  His  faithful  servants 
in  every  age.  How  is  the  heart  of  man  to  be 
penetrated  ?  There  is,  says  Ruskin,  a  crust 
about  the  impressible  part  of  men's  minds 
which  must  be  pierced  through  before  they 
can  be  touched  to  the  quick,  and  though  we 
may  prick  at  it  and  scratch  it  in  a  thousand 
separate  places,  we  might  as  well  have  left  it 
alone  if  we  did  not  go  through  somewhere 
with  a  deep  thrust.  And  if  we  can  give  such 
a  thrust  anywhere,  there  is  no  need  of  another. 
It  need  not  even  be  so  wide  as  a  church 
door,  so  that  it  be  enough.  Three  things — the 
point  of  attack,  the  sword,  the  power  of  the 
Spirit.  The  sword  is  the  Word  of  God,  but 
even  with  the  Word  we  can  do  nothing 
without  the  Spirit,  and  we  need,  as  Christ 
needed,  no  common  or  restrained  portion  of 
the  Spirit.  It  was  hard  for  Him  even  to 
thrust    through    to    the    heart,   and    time    and 


122  "/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH'' 

Storm  and  sorrow  have  set  their  wild  signa- 
tures on  all  His  true  messengers.  And  yet 
without  the  Lamp  of  Power  the  building  of 
the  Church  is  impossible,  alike  to  Master  and 
servant.  Yet  such  is  the  power,  that  we  are 
not  to  be  dismayed.  We  believe  in  the  Holy 
Ghost — therefore  we  are  always  confident. 
The  word  "■  cannot "  should  be  struck  from  the 
Christian  vocabulary.  *'  I  can  do  all  things 
through  Christ  Who  strengthens  me"  by  His 
Spirit. 

Once  more,  there  must  be  the  Lamp  of 
Beauty.  He  will  present  it  to  Himself  a 
glorious  Church,  for  if  the  Church  is  to  be  fair 
with  the  beauty  of  the  Lord,  love  and  joy 
must  go  into  the  building.  "We  are  not  sent 
into  the  world  to  do  anything  into  which  we 
cannot  put  our  hearts."  Unless  we  put  our 
hearts  into  our  building  we  cannot  put  our 
intellects.  And  it  may  be  true,  as  the  great 
critic  has  said,  that  "  objects  are  noble  and 
ignoble  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  the 
energy  of  the  mind  which  has  visibly  been 
employed  upon  them."     We  know  what  heart 


"/  WILL  BUILD  MV  CHURCH''  123 


Christ   put   into   the  building  of  His  Church. 
The  zeal  of  God's  House  consumed  Him.     It 
was  His  meat  to  do  the  will  of  the  Father,  and 
to  finish  His  work.      In  the  old  days  men  and 
women   put   their   souls   into  church  building. 
A  French   writer  describes   the   rebuilding  of 
Chartres    Cathedral   after    its    destruction    by 
fire.     All  the  country  over,  every  one  grieved 
and  wept.     Whole  populations  stopped  their 
regular  work,   left    their    homes    to  help,   the 
rich    bringing    money    and    jewels,    and    the 
poor    putting     in    their     barrows    everything 
that   could   serve  to  feed  labour  and  men,  or 
help  in  the  work.      It  was  a  constant  stream 
of  emigration,    the   spontaneous   exodus   of  a 
people.      Every  road  was  crowded   with   pil- 
grims,  all,   men    and    women    alike,   dragging 
whole    trees,    pushing    loads    of  sawn    beams. 
What    seems    more   incredible    and    is    never- 
theless   attested    by    every    chronicle    of    the 
time,    is    that    this    horde    of    old    folks    and 
children,   of   men    and   women,    was   at   once 
amenable    to    discipline.       And    yet    they    be- 
longed   to    every    class    of   society,    for    there 


124  "^  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH" 

were  among  them  knights  and  ladles  of  high 
degree.  But  Divine  love  was  so  powerful 
that  it  annihilated  distinctions  and  abolished 
caste.  The  nobles  harnessed  themselves  with 
the  labourers  to  drag  the  trucks.  Patrician 
dames  helped  the  peasant  women  to  stir  the 
mortar  and  to  cook  the  food.  The  old 
Durham  Cathedral  was  completed  in  a  similar 
way.  The  entire  population  of  the  district, 
from  the  Coquet  to  the  Tees,  headed  by  the 
Earl  of  the  Northumbrians,  readily  rendered 
all  the  help  they  could.  We  can  tell  to  our 
own  day  of  similar  enterprises  on  humbler 
scales,  where  chapels  have  been  built  by 
the  gratuitous  labour  of  poor  men  in  their 
scanty  leisure.  Christ  has  built  His  Church 
with  joy  unspeakable,  and  we  can  build  it 
worthily  with  Him.  He  does  not  need  us 
for  the  building.  He  said  Himself,  "  I  will 
build  My  Church."  He  will  carry  His  banner 
on  to  victory,  though  the  hands  of  all  of  us 
relax  their  hold.  Perhaps  our  work  may  be 
nothing  more  than  a  discipline  for  our  souls, 
and   in  itself  useless.      But,   as    Ruskin   nobly 


"/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH''  125 

says,  "  Since  our  life  must  at  the  best  be  but 
a  vapour  that  appears  for  a  Httle  time  and 
then  vanishes  away,  let  it  at  least  appear  as 
a  cloud  in  the  height  of  heaven,  not  as  the 
thick  darkness  that  broods  over  the  blast  of  the 
furnace,  and  rolling  of  the  wheel."  It  needs 
all — sacrifice,  power,  joy.  Always  as  Christ 
looked  on  to  His  triumph  He  foresaw  His 
battle.  ''  The  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  it."  The  Church  was  to  be  built,  has 
been  built,  will  be  built,  "  'mid  toil  and  tribula- 
tion and  tumult  of  the  war."  He  lived,  and 
we  live,  in  the  shadow  of  the  gates  of  hell. 
Sometimes  we  are  impatient.  The  obstacles 
by  this  time,  we  say,  should  have  vanished. 
But  they  are  always  there,  and  always  will  be 
there,  till  the  victory  is  won.  The  gates  of 
hell  take  different  forms — sometimes  animalism, 
sometimes  indifference,  sometimes  intellectual 
disbelief,  sometimes  persecution,  most  often, 
perhaps,  pharisaism.  So  again  and  again 
there  have  been  reactions  and  defeats.  Just 
as  we  think  the  end  is  come,  we  find  that  we 
have  to  begin  over  again.      The  unchanging 


126  "/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH'' 

anxieties,  the  tangled  difficulties  remain. 
What  wonder  that  Christ  came  in  blood 
and  lives  among  us  in  blood  ?  Wherefore 
art  Thou  red  in  Thine  apparel?  This  is  the 
question  which  the  modern  mind  is  always 
addressing  to  Christ,  and  there  is  no  question 
which  His  servants  can  answer  with  a  fuller 
assurance.  He  stands  with  us  before  the 
tremendous  fortress  of  the  human  soul  and 
puts  with  us  the  question.  Who  will  briitg  Me 
into  the  strong  city  ?  Who  will  lead  Me  into 
Edom?  We  must  drink  of  His  cup,  we  must 
be  baptized  with  His  baptism.  He  did  not 
break  down  ;  He  was  not  bewildered,  yet  He 
knew  th^  stress  of  the  struggle,  and  He  can 
sympathise  with  us  who,  though  planted  in 
the  likeness  of  His  death,  have  not  attained 
to  the  full  likeness  of  His  resurrection. 


Ill 

Why  should  not  Christ's  conception  of 
life,  "  I  will  build  My  Church,"  be  taken  by  the 
young   men    here   to-day  ?     First   comes   faith 


"/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH"  127 


in  Christ,  and   then  comes   following.     There 
is  no  nobler  following  than  that  of  those  whose 
life-purpose  is  put  in  the  words,  ''  I  will  build 
His   Church."     Among  the  most    sacred  and 
beautiful  recollections  of  my  life  are  those  men 
and  women  of  whom  this  could  be  said.     They 
were  the  pillars  of  the  churches    I    served  in 
the   ministry.      They   led   active,  loving   lives 
outside,  but  the  supreme  thought  was  always 
the  welfare  of  the  Church.     They  could  always 
be  relied  on  ;  they  were  present  when  others 
were  absent ;  they  were  generous  when  others 
were  niggardly ;  they  were  brave  when  others 
were  faint.      I   do  not  know  what  the  Church 
would  be  without  such.     I  remember  one  who 
lived  till  eighty,  whose  venerable  presence  was 
a  benediction,  who  through  all  his  years,  under 
changes  of  ministry  and  the  various  fortunes 
of  a    community,   was    the    strength    and   joy 
and  inspiration  of  his  fellow-worshippers.     He 
literally  died  in  the  church,  came  to  it  one  day 
m  weakness,  and  was  suddenly  stricken  with 
heart-disease,  and  passed  away  in  a  moment, 
fulfilling  the  words-^ 


128  "/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH'' 

Yea,  I  will  be  found 
Dead  at  the  threshold  of  Thy  mercy 
With  the  ring  of  Thy  door  in  my  hand. 

Through  the  blessing  of  God,  we  have  in  our 
churches  men  and  women  Hke  these — all  too 
few.  Can  the  young  men  here  give  them- 
selves to  a  better  cause  ?  Remember  this  is 
the  cause,  and  the  only  cause,  that  will  never 
betray  what  faith  and  love  a  man  may  give  it. 
You  attach  yourselves  to  a  political  party, 
serve  it  through  your  most  living  and  glowing 
years,  and  find  that  in  the  end  it  is  impotent 
and  shattered.  Or,  perhaps,  you  succeed  in 
carrying  the  measure  you  set  your  heart  on, 
and  the  result  is  a  bitter  disappointment. 
The  law  has  been  passed,  but  there  is  no 
diminution  in  the  sin  and  misery  of  the  world. 
How  many  faint  and  grow  weary,  and  acquiesce 
dully  at  last  in  evils  against  which  they  set 
their  young  brows  like  a  rock !  Or  you  set 
yourself  to  win  literary  distinction,  and  you 
have  your  day,  and  others  come  and  take  your 
place,  and  the  last  years  of  your  life  are  spent 
in  obscurity.      If  your  name  is  recalled  at  all» 


"/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH''  129 

it  is  with  a  contemptuous  sneer.  These  aims 
break  the  heart.  But  a  devotion  to  the 
Church  of  Christ  will  in  no  wise  lose  its 
reward,  for  the  wonderful  Cnurch  of  Christ  is 
the  one  thing  on  earth  that  does  not  die. 
Christ  being  raised  from  the  dead,  dieth  no 
more,  and  His  Church  is  not  to  die.  Every 
kind  of  weapon  has  been  tried  against  the 
Church — open  attack,  subtle  solvent,  all  have 
done  their  work.  Again  and  again  it  has 
seemed  as  if  the  Church  has  been  overthrown. 
Men  have  spoken  openly  of  the  nearing  end. 
They  have  talked  of  the  long  empire  of  Christ 
over  the  hearts  of  men  as  if  it  were  a  waning 
tyranny,  but  strong  in  the  life  of  her  Head  she 
has  always  recovered,  always  adapted  herself 
to  new  circumstances,  always  put  forth  fresh 
energies.  No  weapon  formed  against  her  has 
prospered,  and  as  it  has  been,  so  it  shall  be, 
''  I  will  build  My  Church." 

Why  should  not  you  say,  ''  I  will  build  my 
Church — the  Church  in  which  I  was  born, 
where  I  first  heard  the  Gospel,  and  believed 
it,  the  Church  of  my  father  and  mother,  the 

K 


I30  "/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH'' 

Church  where  I  first  found  my  saints,  and  was 
led  from  the  light  of  the  moon  to  the  light  of 
the  sun  "  ?  Why  should  you  not  say  of  that 
Church,  "  Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  nor  to 
return  from  following  after  thee  ;  for  whither 
thou  goest,  I  will  go  ;  thy  people  shall  be  my 
people,  and  thy  God  my  God"?  ''Bone  of 
your  bone  are  we,  and  in  death  shall  be  dust 
of  your  dust."  Any  great  and  worthy  life 
should  be  faithful  to  its  past.  Our  great 
prophet,  whom  I  have  quoted  so  much,  speaks 
indignantly  of  the  time  "  when  every  man's 
past  life  is  his  habitual  scorn,  when  men  build 
in  the  hope  of  leaving  the  place  they  have 
built,  and  live  in  the  hope  of  forgetting  the 
years  they  have  lived,  when  the  comfort,  the 
peace,  the  religion  of  home  have  ceased  to  be 
felt."  Honour  thy  father  and  mother — living 
and  dead.  Many  of  us  have  lost  them,  but  we 
are  still  the  sons  of  parents  who  have  passed 
into  the  skies,  and  we  hope  to  meet  them,  and 
not  be  ashamed  at  the  meeting.  With  what 
a  pang  would  our  fathers  and  mothers  have 
thought    of    our    forsaking    the    Church    they 


"/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH''  131 

loved  !  You  may  rise  in  life,  and  I  trust  if  it 
is  God's  will  that  you  may.  You  will  have  a 
work  to  do  ;  you  may  become  rich,  and  famous, 
and  powerful,  but  the  success  will  yield  little 
happiness  if  it  is  not  loyally  used.  How  well 
it  would  be  if  you  took  every  fresh  gift,  every 
position  which  gave  you  new  influence  in  the 
world,  and  used  it  for  the  Church ;  if  you 
said,  "  This  is  my  talent,  and  with  this  talent  I 
will  build  my  Church."  It  may  be  the  talent 
of  wealth,  it  may  be  the  talent  of  eloquence, 
it  may  be  the  talent  of  literary  power,  or  of 
skill  in  affairs.  Christ  needs  them  all,  and 
they  may  all  be  hallowed  by  a  devotion  to 
His  cause.  Is  it  difficult?  It  may  come  to 
be  difficult.  Your  Church  may  come  to  be 
despised.  What  then  }  It  has  all  the  more 
need  of  you — 

All  are  not  lost  and  wandered  back, 
All  have  not  left  Thy  Church  and  Thee ; 
There  are  who  suffer  for  Thy  sake, 
Enjoy  Thy  glorious  infamy. 

There  will   be  trial   days  of  weakness  and 
dismay,  but  never  a  day  when  Christ  will  not 


132  "/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH'' 

be  there.  And  there  is  a  special  sweetness 
and  strength  in  His  presence  when  we  can  fall 
back  on  no  other.  Have  you  never  felt  how 
by  one  earnest  and  believing  presence  all  is 
transformed  and  redeemed  ?  The  old  emblems 
recover  their  first  significance,  the  time-worn 
phrases  glow  with  life  again,  and  we  ourselves 
are  altered.  If  we  are  alone  we  are  not  alone, 
because  He  Is  with  us,  and  He  whispers, 
'*  The  earth  is  weak,  and  all  the  inhabitants 
thereof.  I  bear  up  the  pillars  of  it."  I  re- 
member reading  of  an  old  Dissenting  minister 
who  was  dying.  The  bells  rang  for  church, 
and  he  looked  up  to  his  faithful  wife  and  said, 
**  Let  the  rest  go  ;  you  will  stay."  They  were 
his  last  words.  They  have  often  come  to  me 
in  days  of  defection  and  falnt-heartedness  and 
apostasy,  when  it  almost  seemed  as  if  every 
one  was  to  go.  He  said  then,  **  Lo,  I  am 
with  you  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the 
world,"  and  He  was  as  good  as  His  word. 
Alone  in  the  African  desert,  surrounded  by 
perils,  Livingstone  heard  the  Lord  speaking 
it,  and   he   says,  "  I    took   it   as    His   word   of 


"/  WILL  BUILD  MY  CHURCH''  133 

honour."  You  remember  Luther's  intense 
saying,  *'  If  the  Lord  God  is  to  keep  up  His 
Church,  He  must  care  for  it  Himself.  We 
cannot  do  it."  He  will  take  care  of  His 
Church :  "  I  will  build  My  Church."  *'  Lo,  I  am 
with  you  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world." 
Let  us  fill  our  souls  with  these  Divine  assur- 
ances, and  be  brave.  We  turn  round  to  the 
living  Christ,  "  Let  the  rest  go.  You  will 
stay." 


THE    LAMB'S    WAR   WITH    THE 
BEAST ^ 

These  shall  make  war  with  the   Lamb,  and  the   Lamb  shall 
overcome  them. — Rev.  xvii.  14. 

It  is  Strange  that  the  most  mysterious  book  of 
the  Bible  should  be  especially  singled  out  as 
the  Revelation.  Yet  though  no  book  is  less 
patient  of  a  detailed  and  pedantic  exposition, 
none  is  more  full  of  the  triumph  and  the  tears 
of  God's  Word,  none  is  richer  in  lessons  to 
guide  us  in  the  stern  and  fluctuating  conflict 
of  our  Lord  with  Satan.  There  is  a  roll  of 
martyrs  in  the  Christian  Church,  and  over 
against  it  a  roll  of  apostates.  There  are  stories 
of  great  stones  rolled  to  the  door  of  sepulchres 
and  removed  by  angel  hands,  of  life  and  victory, 

^  Anniversary  sermon  of  the  London  Wesleyan  Methodist  Mission, 
preached  in  City  Road  Chapel,  London,  Tuesday,  March  17,  1903. 

134 


THE  LAMES  WAR   WITH  THE  BEAST      135 

but  also  of  failure  and  disappointment  and 
every  form  of  death.  The  battle  is  often 
pictured  here  as  a  war  between  the  Lamb  and 
the  beast.  The  beast  may  be  taken  to  denote 
the  rebellion  of  the  animal,  the  untamed,  the 
sensual,  the  violent  element,  blatant  and 
blasphemous.  But  what  makes  the  beast  as 
distinguished  from  the  man  is  that  there  is  no 
direct  correspondence  of  the  animal  with  God, 
and  there  never  can  be.  What  we  have  to 
consider  in  our  day  is  that  the  beast  may  be 
tamed,  and  remain  the  beast.  You  may  carry 
out  social  reform,  give  every  one  decent  con- 
ditions of  living,  suppress  to  a  great  degree 
drunkenness  and  immorality,  silence  the  scoffer, 
and  yet  be  further  from  your  goal  than  ever. 
A  contented  materialism  is  as  far  from  God  as 
the  most  rebellious  infidelity,  and  may  even 
be  harder  for  the  Christian  preacher  to  deal 
with.  Thus,  in  times  within  the  memory  of 
many  among  us,  there  was  through  the  country 
a  fierce  and  persistent  propaganda  of  secular- 
ism. There  were  halls  in  our  great  towns 
where  the  Bible  was  mocked,  where  God  and 


136       THE  LAMES  WAR  WITH  THE  BEAST 


His  Christ  were  denied,  where  Christianity  in 
its  nature  and  effects  was  challenged  as  a 
baseless  and  mischievous  superstition.  Now, 
I  believe  these  halls  have  been  generally 
closed.  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  some  of  them 
are  actually  in  use  for  the  work  of  the  London 
Wesleyan  Methodist  Mission.  Let  us  thank 
God  for  that,  so  far  as  it  means  the  victory  of 
Christ ;  but  it  may  mean,  and  in  some  cases  it 
doubtless  does  mean,  not  a  surrender  to  Christ, 
but  a  crass  and  dull  indifference  to  the  great 
questions  of  the  soul.  Let  us  never  forget 
that  some  of  the  men  who  advocated  secular- 
ism cared  very  much  about  religion.  They 
were  exercised  by  the  problems  of  destiny. 
Often  they  were  champions  of  justice  and 
apostles  of  freedom,  often  they  proved  their 
sincerity  by  great  sufferings  and  sacrifices. 
They  have  been  missed  in  those  years  of 
creeping  apathy,  when  it  has  seemed  that  in 
sections  of  the  population  the  vision  of  the 
Ideal  has  ceased,  and  men  have  come  to  care 
nothing  for  that  which  is  high,  nothing  for 
the  old  and  kindling  dreams  of  righteousness. 


THE  LAMB'S   WAR  WITH  THE  BEAST      137 

nothing  for  the  Bible,  nothing  for  the  Saviour, 
nothing  for  the  other  world. 


A  powerful  and  painful  little  book,  lately 
published,  under  the  title.  From  the  Abyss, 
sketches  a  typical  working  man,  John  Smith 
by  name.  The  writer  foresees  a  not  distant 
day  when  by  the  help  of  the  policeman  and  the 
Peabody  buildings  the  ape  and  tiger  instincts 
will  be  eliminated  in  man.  He  thinks  that 
lives  now  insurgent  and  unconfined  will  be- 
come confined  and  acquiescent,  that  the  block- 
dweller  of  the  future  will  pass  from  the  great 
deep  to  the  great  deep,  vacant,  cheerful,  un- 
disturbed by  envy,  aspiration,  or  desire.  John 
Smith  represents  half  a  million  people.  He 
lives  in  a  four-roomed  cottage  at  Camberwell, 
with  a  wife  and  five  children,  and  a  lodger. 
Six  days  of  the  week  he  goes  early  to  his  work 
at  brick-laying  ;  he  returns  at  night  to  his  pipe 
and  supper,  and,  perhaps,  goes  round  to  the 
public-house  to  hear  the  news.     On  Sunday  he 


138       THE  LAMB'S  WAR  WITH  THE  BEAST 

sleeps  late,  but  he  has  Sunday  dinner,  a  stroll 
in  Peckham  Rye,  and  he  closes  his  day  with 
his  companions  at  the  ''  Blue  Dragon."  So 
long  as  work  is  good,  and  pay  regular,  he  does 
not  lift  his  voice  in  complaint.  Intellectual 
interests  he  has  none.  He  will  not  listen  to 
lectures.  He  will  read  a  newspaper,  but  the 
news  does  not  stir  him.  He  cannot  be 
galvanised  into  utterance.  He  drifts  to  his 
work  daily,  dumbly  contented  if  work  is 
easy  and  lucrative,  dumbly  resentful  if  it  is 
not,  but  dumb  always.  To  the  Churches 
he  is  practically  invulnerable.  He  has  no 
quarrel  with  religion,  but  what  faith  he  has  is 
merely  in  a  Deity  of  universal  tolerance.  He  is 
commonplace,  respectable,  and  fairly  virtuous. 
Yet  he  is  an  immortal  spirit  journeying 
between  two  eternities  through  a  world  of 
tragical  meaning,  to  the  significance  of  which 
he  seems  destined  to  be  blind.  There  are,  we 
are  told,  in  this  vast  city  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  such,  and  the  trouble  about  them  is  not  that 
they  are  unhappy,  but  that  being  what  they 
are  they  should   be  so  happy.      Against    this 


THE  LAMB'S  WAR   WITH  THE  BEAST      139 

apparent  death  of  the  spiritual  needs  and 
cravings,  against  this  life  under  the  low  sky, 
against  this  apparent  numbness  of  heart  and 
conscience  the  Lamb  wages  His  war. 


II 

"  These  shall  make  war  with  the  Lamb,  and 
the  Lamb  shall  overcome  them."     This  is  our 
task — the  awakening  of  the  soul.     How  shall 
we    do    it?     How    shall    we    stir    that    heavy- 
sleeper  ?      How    shall    we    rouse    it    into   the 
tumult  of  yearnings  and  aspirings  ?     How  shall 
we  break  the  force  of  the  opiates  that  have 
drugged    it    till    it    seems    dead,  till   the    sole 
object    in    life    seems   to    be    to    eat    well,    to 
drink  well,  to  sleep  well,  to  work  as  little  as 
possible,  and  to  keep  out  of  the  way  of  trouble  ? 
This  is  a  harder  task  than  to  meet   the  soul 
awake  and  aware,  clamorous,  craving,  exacting, 
rebellious,    wild    for    home.      Well,    we    will 
labour  with  all  our  might  to  destroy  the  social 
conditions  that  make  a  decent  life  impossible. 
Is  it  true  that  in  many  cases  here  in  London 


I40       THE  LAMB'S   WAR   WITH  THE  BEAST 

there  is  a  strength  of  circumstance  that  even 
the  Gospel  cannot  quell  and  dominate,  cess- 
pools in  which  they  who  live  must  sin  and 
perish?  Is  it  true  that  there  are  thousands 
of  children  defrauded  of  their  childhood,  born 
to  an  inheritance  of  vice  and  wretchedness, 
damned  from  the  beginning  ?  We  must 
change  that  at  any  cost,  and  that  Church  has 
strayed  from  the  Master  which  is  not  in  earnest 
sympathy  and  in  mutual  sacrifice  with  those 
inspired  by  a  passion  of  pity  to  take  away  what 
Emerson  calls  this  accursed  mountain  of 
sorrow.  But  as  to  the  ultimate  solution  of 
the  social  question,  I  am  not  able  to  form 
an  opinion.  Under  what  circumstances  this 
mortal  life  shall  clothe  itself  when  at  last  the 
will  of  God  shall  be  done  on  earth  even  as  it 
is  in  Heaven  I  do  not  know.  I  read  eloquent 
and  powerful  arguments  for  this  reconstruction 
of  society  and  that,  but  I  remain  perplexed, 
seeing  little  beyond  the  next  step.  Our 
economists,  our  philosophers,  our  politicians 
have  much  to  do  ere  they  reach  the  goal. 
Christian    thinkers   ought   to  be  amongst   the 


THE  LAMES  WAR  WITH  THE  BEAST      141 

busiest  in  the  investigation.  May  God  hasten 
the  end  !  You  in  your  missions  have  wisely 
recognised  a  duty  in  this  great  business.  You 
have  seen  that  you  are  called  to  care  for  the 
whole  life  of  the  poor,  that  nothing  is  secular  to 
the  Christian  worker,  that  every  human  being 
born  into  the  world  has  a  right  to  content-  ^ 
ment  and  joy.  These  things  you  hold,  not  as 
abstract  propositions,  but  with  a  sacred  passion. 
But  as  Christians  we  go  very  much  further. 
Our  problem  is  not  solved  when  every  dweller 
in  London  has  four  rooms.  The  problem 
of  John  Smith  would  still  remain  to  us.  It 
would  not  be  solved  even  if  we  could  transfer 
the  East  End  to  the  West  End,  or  even  if  we 
could  mingle  and  equalise  the  privileges  and 
opportunities  of  the  two.  The  deliverance 
from  materialism  is  not  to  be  achieved  in  this 
manner,  and  it  is  the  deliverance  from  material- 
ism that  we  supremely  care  for.  I  come  back 
to  the  point  that  we  must  awaken  the  soul.  Is 
the  soul  quite  dead  ?  Does  poverty  kill  it } 
Never  believe  it.  The  Bible  is  full  of  the 
vices  of  the  rich,  but  has  little  or  nothing  to 


142       THE  LAMES  WAR  WITH  THE  BEAST 

say  of  the  vices  of  the  poor.  The  New 
Testament  says  to  the  poorest  of  the  poor, 
*'  Now  is  the  day  of  salvation,"  and  nothing 
can  rob  us  of  that  privilege.  But  I  say  that 
there  is  no  part  of  London  that  is  not  invaded 
by  love  and  remorse  and  sorrow,  and  the  soul 
touched  by  all  these  wakens  for  the  moment, 
however  soon  it  may  relapse  into  its  slumber. 
Love  kindles  in  the  heart,  and  shines  from  the 
eyes  of  youth  and  maiden  still.  There  is  the 
transfiguration.  It  may  be  brief,  but  it  is 
most  real  and  unforgettable  ;  the  transfigura- 
tion of  all  things,  the  recovered  trust  in  the 
ideal.  That  will  not  die  quite  out  even  after 
years  of  alienation,  sin,  and  brutality.  There  is 
remorse,  for  the  conscience  wakens  sometimes, 
and  thinks  vainly  of  what  might  have  been, 
wonders  at  its  own  writhings,  seeks  to  be 
drugged  again.  Above  all,  there  is  bereave- 
ment, and  Christ  enters  most  easily  through 
the  rents  and  fissures  of  a  broken  heart.  Yes, 
there  is  a  soul,  no  matter  how  swathed, 
shrouded,  buried,  forgotten.  The  Lamb  sees 
the  soul,  and  because  He  sees  we  should  see 


THE  LAMES  WAR   WITH  THE  BEAST      143 

also.  There  is  an  old  legend  which  perhaps 
you  remember.  The  Saviour  and  His  disciples 
were  walking  along  the  way  when  they  came 
upon  a  dead  dog.  The  disciples  did  not 
conceal  their  disgust ;  the  Saviour  said,  *'  How 
white  its  teeth  are  !  "  And  He  always  finds  in 
the  most  degraded  that  touch  of  hallowing 
beauty,  that  germ  of  spirit  and  life,  through 
which  His  redemption  may  come. 


Ill 

"The  Lamb  shall  overcome  them."  What 
ideas  are  associated  with  the  Lamb  ?  How 
does  He  awaken,  how  does  He  cast  out  devils, 
how  does  He  raise  the  dead  '^  For  answer,  we 
read  of  His  knowledge,  His  love.  His  power, 
His  sacrifice.  In  the  soldiers  of  the  Lamb 
these  in  measure  must  be  reproduced. 

We  read  of  His  knowledge.  When  the 
strong  Angel  called,  "Who  is  worthy  to  open 
the  book,  and  to  loose  the  seals  thereof.'^ " 
when  the  apostle  wept  much  because  none  in 
heaven  or  in  earth  was  found  worthy  to  open 


144       THE  LAMES   WAR   WITH  THE  BEATS 

and  to  read  the  book,  the  Lamb  as  It  had  been 
slain  took  the  book  out  of  the  right  hand  of 
Him  that  sat  upon  the  throne  and  opened  the 
seven  seals.  And  they  sang  a  new  song, 
saying,  ''  Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the  book, 
and  to  open  the  seals  thereof:  for  Thou  wast 
slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  Thy 
blood,  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and 
people,  and  nation."  That  means  that  we 
have  a  message.  We  stand  up  in  ourselves 
ignorant,  perplexed,  blundering,  but  with  the 
words,  ''  I  have  received  of  the  Lord  that 
which  I  deliver  unto  you."  We  have  a 
message ;  we  know ;  we  can  answer  through 
Christ  the  incessant  and  recurrent  questions 
of  the  soul.  None  can  answer  them  save 
Christ's  believers.  Mark  Rutherford  tells  us 
of  a  friend  who  longed  to  try  for  himself  a 
mission  in  one  of  the  slums  about  Drury  Lane. 
"  I  sympathised  with  him,  but  I  asked  him 
what  he  had  to  say.  I  remember  telling  him 
that  I  had  been  into  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 
and  that  I  pictured  the  Cathedral  full  and 
myself  in  the  pulpit,  and  I  was  excited  when 


THE  LAMB'S  WAR  WITH  THE  BEAST      145 

imagining  the  opportunity  offered  me  to  deliver 
some  message  to  three  thousand  or  four 
thousand  persons  in  such  a  building.  But  in 
a  minute  or  two  I  discovered  that  my  sermon 
would  be  very  nearly  as  follows  :  *  Dear  friends, 
I  know  no  more  than  you.  I  think  we  had 
better  go  home.' "  But  because  the  Lamb 
has  prevailed  to  open  the  book  and  to  loose 
the  seals  thereof,  we  may  speak  without 
faltering,  without  fear,  with  the  ring  of 
certainty.  What  questions  are  asked,  what 
knowledge  is  sought  for,  the  heart  and  the 
conscience  speak.  The  heart  has  not  forgotten 
the  little  child  that  went  twenty  years  ago. 
How  is  it  with  her  now  ?  Is  there  anything 
in  all  the  universe  that  will  make  up  for 
the  misery  of  losing  her  ?  We  are  not 
ignorant  concerning  them  which  are  asleep. 
It  is  pathetic  beyond  measure  to  see  the  fierce 
eagerness  with  which  many  of  the  most  in- 
structed minds  in  our  day  are  lighting  farthing 
candles  while  the  sun  is  shining.  We  do  not 
need  them,  we  are  in  the  broad  illumination  ; 

we  know  that  the  child  is  safe  in  the  arms  of 

L 


146       THE  LAMB'S  WAR   WITH  THE  BEAST 

Jesus.  That  is  what  Christ  has  told  us,  that 
is  what  we  have  to  repeat.  We  can  answer 
the  question  of  conscience,  not  the  agonising 
question  what  should  people  have  done  in  the 
past,  but  the  question  what  they  must  and 
may  do  now.  We  know  what  men  must  do 
to  be  saved.  We  can  tell  how  that  hour  of 
madness  which  has  shattered  life  can  be 
plucked  out  from  the  past,  how  the  chain  of 
habit  may  be  rent,  how  the  load  upon  the 
heart  may  be  lifted.  We  can  tell  it,  and  we 
can  witness  the  thrilling,  welcoming  gladness 
and  relief.  "  Do  you  know  what  Christ  would 
say  to  you,  my  girl  ?  "  said  a  missionary  to  a 
poor  girl  dying.  "  He  would  say,  '  Thy  sins 
are  forgiven  thee.' "  "  Would  He,  though, 
would  He?"  she  cried,  starting  up.  "Take 
me  to  Him,  take  me  to  Him."  We  can  bring 
to  the  baffled,  disappointed,  starved,  and  soiled 
life  the  news  of  another  life  with  new  begin- 
nings, and  the  immortal  hope  will  spring  up 
in  the  heart  as  we  preach  it.  "  How  do  you 
know  that  there  is  any  heaven,  anyhow  ? " 
said  one  slave  to  another.     "Know  it?  Know 


THE  LAMES  WAR   WITH  THE  BEAST      147 

it?       I    know  it   by  the   hankering  after   it    I    I 
got   in  here."     If  we   know  these   things,  we 
cannot  choose  but  speak  of  them.     They  are 
infinitely    more    interesting,    more    absorbing 
than    any    subject    of   the    day.      Our    news- 
papers   are    full    of   tidings    concerning    them 
that  are  awake — the   '  live   men '  as  they  call 
them,  alive  for  good  or  evil,  fill  the  thoughts 
of  men  and   stir   their   curiosity.      But   if  any 
newspaper    could    give    us    authentic    tidings 
about     the    humblest     human     creature    who 
has    left    the    earth,    the    most    forgotten    of 
all,  how  we  should  throw  aside   and  count  as 
nothing  all  the  other  news  for  that  news  !     Of 
course,  if  there   is   no   supernatural  revelation 
the  Church  ends,  and  we  may  leave  to  science, 
to  the  schools,  to  the  politicians,  the  regenera- 
tion   of  the    world.      But    we    know,    and    we 
cannot  choose  but  speak  of  the  things  we  have 
seen  and  heard. 

The  Lamb  is  another  name  for  love.  In 
that  Lamb,  love  was  shown  stripped  of  the 
veils  that  hide.  The  love  of  the  Lamb  is  the 
spring  of  our  love,  the  love  of  Christ  which  no 


148       THE  LAMB'S  WAR  WITH  THE  BEAST 

sin  can  weary,  and  no  lapse  of  time  can  change, 

all-redeeming,    all-glorifying,    changing    even 

death   and    despair   to    the   gates   of   heaven. 

That    love    may   win    fresh    triumphs    in    the 

wilderness    through    our    love.       It    does    not 

matter  whether  you  preach  to  great  audiences, 

or  teach  little  children,  or  visit  poor  women  in 

the  slums.     It  will  matter  very  much  if  you  do 

not  love.     You  might  preach  with  the  tongue 

of  an  angel,  and  if  you  had  not  love,  it  would 

profit  you  nothing.     It  is  love,  the  love  that 

Christ  kindles,  and  only  that  that  will  endure 

the  frequent   ugliness  and  loathsomeness  and 

thanklessness  and  corruption  and  backsliding 

you  must  meet  with  day  by  day.     Before  you 

can  open  the  sealed  fountain  of  life  in  a  dead 

heart   you  must   first  prove  yourself  to  be   a 

friend.      I  read  of  one  sister  who  went  and  sat 

by   the    bed    of  a    young    girl   suffering    from 

small-pox.     ''  I  did  it,"  she  said,  *' to  prove  to 

her  that  I  was  her  friend,  and  she  believed  it, 

and    the    rest    came    right."       Yes,    it    is    the 

personal   relation   that   has  the  real  influence. 

"  All  love,"  said  the   mystic,   ''  is  returned  in 


THE  LAMB'S  WAR   WITH  THE  BEAST       149 


measure,"  and  no  saying  is  more  true.  Oh, 
but  it  is  hard  to  love  sometimes,  when  every- 
thing that  was  lovable  seems  to  have  passed 
away.  But  this  never  quite  happens.  There 
is  always  something  that  is  lovable.  A  great 
writer  has  told  with  infinite  pathos  of  how  a 
son  recovered  his  father.  The  old  man  had 
been  wild  and  wicked,  and  was  far  gone  down 
to  hell.  There  was  something  about  him  so 
repellent,  so  hopeless,  that  the  son  sat-  beside 
him  when  he  was  in  a  drunken  daze,  and 
wondered  how  he  could  ever  love  him  again. 
But  as  he  watched,  he  saw  the  mark  of  some 
mending  of  the  threadbare  clothes,  some  poor, 
pitiful  attempt  at  decency,  and  that  very  little 
thing  called  back  the  waters  of  the  far-ebbed 
ocean  of  feeling,  and  his  soul  rushed  out. 
Yes,  a  pin's  prick  will  draw  the  heart's  blood, 
and  something  in  the  lowest  feels  after  the 
higher.  Not  always,  perhaps.  Mark  Ruther- 
ford tells  us  that  though  the  desire  to  decorate 
existence  is  nearly  universal  even  amongst  the 
most  wretched,  so  that  the  worst  of  mortals 
will  put  a  flower  in  the  room,  or  an  ornament 


r 


150       THE  LAMES  WAR  WITH  THE  BEAST 

on  the  mantelpiece,  yet  in   the  alleys  behind 

Drury  Lane  this  instinct,  the  very  salt  of  life, 

was   dead.       It    was    crushed    out    utterly,    a 

symptom    which    seemed    ominous,    and    even 

awful  to  the  last  degree.     Yes,  and  then  we 

must  fall  back  on  the  love  behind  us,  the  love 

that  found  us. 

Come,  shed  abroad  a  Saviour's  love, 
And  that  shall  kindle  ours. 

Again,  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain 
to  receive  power.  The  love  of  the  Lamb  is 
a  mighty  love.  Our  love  is  so  feeble,  feeble 
even  when  it  is  strongest,  unable  to  avert  the 
pain,  the  sin,  the  doom  from  the  dearest. 
"  Would  God  I  had  died  for  thee,  O  Absalom, 
my  son,  my  son  !  "  The  grief  and  remorse  of 
that  cry  ring  down  the  centuries  even  to  this 
hour.  We  love,  and  our  love  cannot  redeem 
men.  Often  it  seems  to  us  that  power  is 
loveless,  or  even  at  strife  with  love.  But  in 
the  Lamb  power  is  love,  and  in  the  end  the 
universe  shall  know  it.  We  are  not  left  alone 
to  fight  this  battle.  Behind  us  are  the  re- 
serves  of  heaven,  and    the  grace   which    will 


THE  LAMES  WAR  WITH  THE  BEAST      151 

hold  US  Up  as  Christ  held  up  to  the  end  of  the 
hard  day. 

Power  is  Love — transports,  transforms 

Who  aspired  from  worst  to  best, 
Sought  the  soul's  world,  spurned  the  worms'. 
I  have  faith  such  end  shall  be : 

From  the  first.  Power  was — I  knew. 
Life  has  made  clear  to  me 

That,  strive  but  for  closer  view, 
Love  were  as  plain  to  see. 

The  Lamb  is  upon  His  Throne,  and  He 
attained  that  Throne  through  His  sacrifice. 
Now  that  He  ascended,  what  is  it  but  that 
He  also  descended  first  into  the  lowest  parts 
of  the  earth  ?  Before  the  ascent  was  the 
descent  from  the  time  of  His  showing  to  Israel 
till  the  offering  up  of  the  sacrifice  which  proved 
His  devotion  entire.  That  sacrifice  can  never 
be  repeated,  that  perfect  oblation  for  the  sins 
of  the  whole  world.  Yet  we  are  to  ascend  by- 
descending,  as  your  own  John  Wesley  did, 
going  down  lower  and  lower  from  all  that  the 
world  held  precious  till  he  died,  and  left  behind 
him  a  living  religion  in  England.  Says  a 
modern  thinker,  *'  No  one  can  prove  that  any 


152       THE  LAMBS  WAR   WITH  THE  BEAST 

form  of  self-sacrifice  is  a  duty."  God  forbid 
that  it  ever  should  be  proved.  Self-sacrifice  is 
the  privilege  of  love,  and  its  own  vindication. 
The  greater  the  sacrifice — this  is  the  law — the 
greater  the  victory,  and  the  greater  the  sacrifice 
the  greater  the  strength  and  the  gladness. 
That  strange  joy,  sweet,  and  solemn,  and 
mysterious  even  to  those  who  possess  it,  is 
born  of  darkness  and  tribulation  like  the 
fragrance  of  night  flowers.  Does  not  the 
history  of  the  Christian  Church  assure  us  that 
there  has  been  a  joy  in  dungeons  and  on 
scaffolds  passing  the  joy  of  harvest  ?  For  you 
the  sacrifice  may  come,  not-  so  much  in  great 
surrenders  as  in  the  small  daily  yieldings  of 
the  preference  and  the  will  to  Christ  and  the 
souls  He  died  for.  There  will  be  pain  and 
there  must  be  pain,  but  it  will  be  over  soon, 
very  soon,  and  whilst  it  lasts  you  will  enter 
into  such  fellowship  with  Christ  as  other 
Christians  never  know.  Perhaps  the  new 
discovery  of  Christ  to  the  Church  which  will 
mean  the  recovery  of  the  power  of  the  Church 
will    come    through    such   a  baptism,   through 


THE  LAMES   WAR  WITH  THE  BEAST      153 

the  drinking  of  His  cup,  through  the   being 
baptized  with  His  baptism. 

I  cannot  close  without  a  word  on  the 
passing  of  Hugh  Price  Hughes.  More  than 
any  other  man  he  stood  forth  to  England  and 
the  world  as  the  representative  of  the  great 
mission  work  to  which  the  Wesleyan  Methodist 
Church  has  so  happily  devoted  her  mighty 
energies.  I  cannot  add  much  to  the  many 
tributes  of  reverence  and  affection  which  have 
been  paid  to  his  memory.  We  knew  that 
fiery,  tender,  eager  spirit  which  communicated 
its  own  force  to  so  many,  which  raised  the 
standard  of  Christian  life  in  London,  and  which 
is  moving  and  eloquent  among  us  still.  Now 
that  the  exhaustion  and  fatigue  he  suffered 
from  in  his  last  days  have  passed  into  happy 
rest,  we  seem  to  know  him  better.  He  had 
one  great  characteristic  which  so  many  of  our 
so-called  leaders  sadly  require  to-day.  He 
had  an  abounding  faith,  an  unswerving  hope 
of  the  glory  of  God.  I  loved  him  very  much 
for  that.  Sometimes  we  may  have  thought 
him  sanguine,  sometimes  he  was  disappointed, 


154       THE  LAMES  WAR  WITH  THE  BEAST 

but  he  was  right  In  his  faith  that  whatever  the 
forces  of  evil  may  be,  the  Lamb  shall  over- 
come them,  and  he  always  believed  it,  and 
said,  **  Even  so,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly." 
While  others  saw  only  the  outer  darkness,  he 
could  discern  veins  and  fields  of  light.  He 
was  very  sure  of  God,  and  hope  maketh  not 
ashamed.  Let  us  be  very  sure  of  the  power 
and  love  behind  us  of  God  in  Christ.  **  Thou 
carest  for  a  gourd  for  which  thou  hast  not 
travailed,  nor  hast  thou  brought  it  up  ;  a  thing 
that  came  in  a  night,  and  in  a  night  has 
perished.  And  shall  I  not  care  for  this  great 
city,  in  which  are  more  than  twelve  times  ten 
thousand  human  beings  who  know  not  their 
right  hand  from  their  left  '^.  " 


THE    FRANKNESS    OF    JESUS 
CHRIST  1 

If  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you. — John  xiv,  2. 

I  HAVE  wondered  most  of  my  life  why  Christ 
spoke  these  words  at  the  time  He  did.  They 
seem  unsatisfactorily  explained,  whether  con- 
nected with  the  first  clause  of  the  phrase  or 
the  last  clause.  Dr.  Marcus  Dods  comments  : 
"  Had  there  been  no  such  place  and  no  possi- 
bility of  preparing  it,  He  necessarily  would 
have  told  them,  because  the  very  purpose 
of  His  leaving  was  to  prepare  a  place  for 
them."  Somehow  this  does  not  find  me. 
Neither  is  Dr.  John  Ker,  also  a  writer  of 
genuine  insight,  much  more  satisfactory.  He 
says :    "  There  might  be   some   misgivings  in 

1  Sermon    preached    before    the    Surrey    Congregational    Union, 
Guildford,  April  28,  1903. 

155 


156        THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 

their  minds,  and  these  words  are  thrown  in 
to  quiet  them.  Had  you  been  deceiving  your- 
selves with  falsehood,  I  should  have  felt  bound 
to  undeceive  you."  It  is  along  these  tracks 
that  most  of  the  explanations  run. 

But  should  we  not  rather  say  that  Christ 
spoke  these  words  with  a  smile }  "If  it  were 
not  so,  I  would  have  told  you.  You  know 
My  way  by  this  time.  It  has  been  My  wont 
to  check  and  thwart  and  dash  your  hopes. 
Things  you  desired,  things  you  believed, 
things  you  dreamt  of  mightily — I  have  told 
you  over  and  over  again  that  they  were  not 
so.  Now  you  are  right  at  last.  You  thought 
that  there  were  many  mansions  in  the  Father's 
house.  You  clung  to  that  faith  when  the 
rest  went.  I  knew  it  all  the  time,  and  I  never 
said  a  word  to  contradict  you,  because  it  was  a 
true  and  sure  hope,  truer  and  surer  and  sweeter 
than  you  knew.  If  it  had  not  been  so,  I  would 
have  told  you  ;  but  it  is  so.  This  time  you 
may  let  your  hearts  go  free  ;  beyond  death 
there  are  no  disappointments." 

If  I    am   right,  the   passage   expresses   the 


THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        157 

perfect  and  lifelong  frankness  of  Christ.  He 
was  absolutely  truthful  and  open.  He  never 
sought  to  win  followers  by  telling  them  that 
the  way  was  broad  and  easy,  and  the  triumph 
early  and  visible.  From  the  very  beginning 
of  His  ministry  He  warned  His  disciples  that 
the  way  was  narrow  and  that  the  gate  was 
strait.  He  urged  those  who  thought  of  join- 
ing His  standard  to  count  the  cost,  to  count  it 
as  a  king  counts  it  before  he  begins  war,  or  as 
a  builder  counts  it  before  he  begins  a  building 
which  may  be  beyond  his  resources.  He  tells 
them  that  they  are  not  to  rush  ardently  into  the 
Christian  life  before  assuring  themselves  how 
much  that  life  means,  and  how  fatal  it  is  to 
estimate  its  sacrifice  too  cheaply.  We  are  not 
to  embark  recklessly  on  a  course  in  which, 
once  begun,  we  must  persevere  at  any  cost. 
We  are  not  to  begin  an  enterprise  of  which  we 
are  likely  to  grow  weary.  Not  mere  impulse, 
but  impulse  guided  by  reason  is  to  move  us. 
Nor  are  we  to  hide  any  peril  of  the  way  from 
those  who  seek  to  join  us. 


158         THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 


Let  me  recall  a  few  of  Christ's  words,  words 
which  reveal  that  frankness  of  truth  wherein 
we  put  our  trust.  At  the  very  budding  and 
beginning  of  His  career  He  said  :  "■  Blessed 
are  ye,  when  men  shall  revile  you,  and  perse- 
cute you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil  against 
you  falsely,  for  My  sake."  He  warned  one 
who  would  follow  Him  of  the  hazards  he 
was  running.  ''  Foxes  have  holes,  and  the 
birds  of  the  air  have  nests  ;  but  the  Son  of 
man  hath  not  where  to  lay  His  head."  He 
told  the  children  of  the  bride-chamber  that  the 
days  of  mourning  would  come  when  the  bride- 
groom was  taken  away  from  them.  He  said 
that  He  came  to  send  a  sword  through  the 
closest  and  dearest  earthly  ties.  His  disciples 
saw  Him  pass  that  sword  through  His  own 
relationships.  '*  Who  is  My  mother  or  My 
brethren  ?  Whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  God, 
the  same  is  My  brother,  and  My  sister,  and 
mother."  He  declared  that  His  disciples 
would    be    hated    of  all   men   for   His  name's 


THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        159 


sake.       He    rejected,    to    the    marvel    of   His 
disciples,  those  who  seemed  to  promise  best, 
those   who   might   have   brought   to   the   little 
company  worldly  influence  and  wealth.     When 
He   sent  the  rich  young  ruler  away,  the  dis- 
ciples asked,  and  no  wonder,  "  Who  then  can  be 
saved  .^"     He  told  them,  when  the  time  came 
that    He    would    soon    perish    in    Jerusalem. 
He  was   to  suffer  many   things  of  the  elders 
and   chief  priests   and   scribes,   and   be   killed. 
They  thought  that  His  kingdom  was  to  come 
in  Jewry,  come  in  a  crash  of  splendid  triumph  ; 
but  it  was  not  so.     They  dreamed  that  when 
that  kingdom  came  they  would  sit  near  Him 
on    His   Throne  ;    but    He  warned   them   that 
the  exaltation  could  not  be,  unless  they  drank 
of    His    cup    and    were    baptized    with    His 
baptism  of  fire.      His  destiny  was  the  Cross, 
and  they  also  had  to   be   cross-bearers  in  His 
train.      One    by    one    down    went    tower   and 
temple,  all  the  earthly  city  of  their  thoughts 
and    hopes.       But    the    heavenly    hope    which 
was  in  their  minds  also,  that  survived.     The 
new  Jerusalem  was  no  dream.     If  it  had  been, 


i6o         THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 

He  would  have  told  them,  as  He  had  told  them 
in  unwelcome  and  darkening  words  many  a 
time,  that  their  hopes  were  vain,  that  their 
realisation  could  never  be.  Now  at  least  and 
at  last  they  were  right.  '*  In  My  Father's 
house  are  many  mansions  :  I  go  to  prepare 
a  place  for  you." 

II 

Christ  thus  throws  forward  their  hopes  on 
Heaven.  He  warns  them  that  on  earth  for  the 
few  years  they  lingered  their  lot  was  to  be 
hard  and  bitter  enough.  And  yet,  speaking 
always  with  the  rigidity  and  the  exactness  as 
well  as  the  frankness  of  truth.  He  tells  them 
that  even  here  and  in  this  world  there  are 
to  be  great  alleviations,  rich  compensations. 
When  Peter  said,  "  Lo,  we  have  left  all  and 
have  followed  Thee,"  Jesus  answered  and 
said  :  **  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  there  is  no 
man  that  hath  left  house,  or  brethren,  or 
sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or 
children,  or  lands  for  My  sake  and  the 
Gospel's,  but  he  shall  receive  an  hundredfold 


THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        i6i 

now  in  this  time,  houses,  and  brethren,  and 
sisters,  and  mothers,  and  children,  and  lands, 
with  persecutions  ;  and  in  the  world  to  come 
eternal  life."  This  is  the  compression  of 
Christ's  teaching  on  reward,  and  it  is  well  that 
we  should  understand  it.  The  persecutions 
and  the  eternal  life  in  the  world  to  come  may- 
seem  to  create  no  difficulty  ;  but  did  Christ 
really  mean  that  His  followers  who  for  His 
sake  and  the  Gospel's  had  parted  with  love 
and  land  would  receive  in  this  time  a  hundred 
times  more  love,  a  hundred  times  more  land  ? 
That  was  what  He  meant.  That  was  what 
He  promised  to  those  who  gave  Him  their 
hearts  without  reserve.  A  hundred  times 
more  love — how  could  that  be  '^.  When  the 
ties  of  blood  are  severed,  when  brothers  and 
sisters  and  father  and  mother  and  wife  and 
children  are  taken  away,  must  not  the  heart 
die  of  starvation  ?  No ;  for  the  passing  of 
the  earthly  love  is  the  influx  of  the  heavenly 
love,  and — 

The  love  of  Jesus,  what  it  is 
None  but  His  loved  ones  know. 

M 


i62         THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 

None  of  the  saints,  it  has  been  said,  has 
found  starvation  instead  of  love,  and  the 
saying  is  true  and  faithful.  However  rich  we 
may  once  have  been  in  earthly  love,  and 
however  poor  we  may  be  to-day,  we  may  be 
a  hundred  times  richer  if  only  the  heart  is 
open  for  the  entrance  of  the  Infinite  and 
Living  Love.  No  alienation,  no  estrangement, 
no  bereavement,  can  leave  us  poor,  if  we  but 
know  the  love  of  Christ  that  passeth  know- 
ledge. No  doubt  Christ  meant  also  that  we 
should  find  love  and  answer  for  the  heart's 
needs  in  the  communion  of  saints  ;  but  even 
if  we  did  not,  even  if  we  were  left  quite  alone 
so  far  as  human  friendships  went,  we  may  be 
very  rich.  There  are  those,  and  they  are 
many,  who  have  to  go  through  life  with  very 
little  earthly  love,  and  that  little  grows  less 
or  disappears  in  the  passing  of  the  years  ;  but 
what  of  that?  As  He  saith  in  Osee  :  "  I  will 
call  her  beloved  which  was  not  beloved." 

And  a  hundred  times  more  land  .^  How 
can  that  be  ?  What  is  it  to  possess  land  or 
to  possess  anything  material  ^.      We  can  only 


THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        163 

possess  what  we  can  appropriate.  A  posses- 
sion is  good  only  as  it  ministers  to  our  good. 
A  millionaire  buys  a  huge  library,  and  hires  a 
librarian  at  a  small  salary.  To  the  millionaire 
the  books  are  pieces  of  furniture.  The 
librarian  has  a  secret  thirst  for  knowledge, 
and  every  book  is  in  its  measure  a  helper 
and  friend.  He  takes  down  Milton,  and 
feels  the  morning  freshness  and  the  summer 
heat  of  ''  Comus."  He  puts  Shakespeare 
to  the  question.  The  great  poets  and 
prophets  and  consolers  of  the  race  bring  him 
their  message.  Who  possesses  the  library  ? 
Does  not  the  librarian  possess  it  a  thousand 
times  more  than  the  millionaire  ?  So  when 
we  are  related  to  God  as  dear  children  we 
possess  everything.  This  beautiful  country- 
side is  not  mine,  but  I  possess  it.  It  belongs 
to  me,  for  I  can  appropriate  its  beauty  of 
colour  and  contour.  I  go  through  it  with  a 
rejoicing  heart,  and  I  care  not  who  holds  the 
title-deeds.  "I  feel  so  very  happy,"  said 
James  Smetham,  **  among  our  English  hedge- 
rows, and  I  find  such  inexhaustible  and  trans- 


i64         THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 

cendent  delight  in  the  English  flowers  and 
birds  and  trees  and  hills  and  brooks.  My 
difficulty  is  to  appreciate  our  little  back  garden 
— our  copper  beech,  our  weeping  ash,  our 
little  nailed-up  rose-trees  and  twisting  yellow 
creepers,  whose  names  I  have  been  told  a 
hundred  times  and  shall  never  get  off  by 
heart."  So  we  may  have  a  hundred  times  more 
love  and  a  hundred  times  more  land,  despite 
all  possible  impoverishment.  Yet  an  apparent 
impoverishment  here  must  sometimes  be  with 
persecution.  There  must  be  something  to 
test  our  union  to  God  so  that  we  may  know 
that  the  relationship  is  ours,  and  give  the 
world  assurance  of  that  relationship.  What 
convinces  the  world  in  the  long-run  that  we 
speak  true  is  ''an  incorrigible  and  losing 
honesty." 

One  point  has  to  be  specially  emphasised. 
The  reward  of  fidelity  is  here  defined  by 
Christ  as  immediate  and  not  deferred.  The 
persecution  and  the  possession  go  together. 
Christ's  heart  is  broken  up  in  these  great 
chapters,  and  we  see  that  it  is  full  to  the  core 


THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        165 


of  rest,   that   great   waves  of  peace   roll    out 
from  it.     He  was  within  an  hour  of  Gethsemane 
and  a  day  of  Calvary,  and  yet  He  had  peace 
for  Himself  and  peace   to  give  and   leave  to 
all  who  trusted  Him.      He   tells  His  friends 
that   they  would   find  the  time   between   His 
home-going   and   their  home-going   a  time  of 
great   peace.       Yet    it    was    to   be    a  time   of 
incredible  and  wearing  strain.     Yes ;  but  the 
peace  was  to  triumph  over  the  trouble,  and  the 
trouble  could   never  mar  the  peace.     Rather 
the    trouble    deepened    it,    confirmed    it.       It 
brought  them  into  the  fellowship  of  His  suffer- 
ings.     It    is  thus    that    they  who    sometimes 
were   far  off  were  made   nigh.     We   know  in 
the  dearest  relations  of  human   life  how  one 
little    grave    will    bring    the    household    close 
together,   in    an    almost    impossible    nearness. 
So  to  know   Christ    is  to   know   Him   in   the 
fellowship  of  His  sufferings.     And   the  years 
go  bravely  for  those  who  do,  and  they  count 
the  cost  well  worth  paying.     We  are  apt  to 
think  of  a  triumph  on  earth  after  a  long  fight, 
seeing    our   cause    prevail,    and    laying    down 


i66         THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 

our  weapons  amid  congratulation  and  honour. 
Sometimes  there  are  visible  crowns  laid  on 
heads  that  have  grown  grey  in  the  service  of 
great  causes.  Much  more  often  crowns  do  not 
come.  There  is  but  little  glory  in  ordinary 
triumphs.  There  is  much  ignominy  in  public 
honour.  There  is  much  apathy  in  the  world's 
fidelity  and  much  fickleness  in  its  love,  and  on 
these  we  are  never  to  set  our  hearts.  The 
persecutions  and  the  peace  go  together. 
Without  the  one  we  shall  never  know  the  full 
depth  of  the  other. 

But  here,  as  elsewhere,  Christ  throws  the 
stress  on  the  other  life.  The  best  paraphrase 
of  this  verse  is  Luther's,  ''  If  the  devil  with  his 
tyrants  hunt  you  out  of  the  world,  you  shall 
still  have  room  enough."  I  am  persuaded 
that  Tennyson  and  Lightfoot  were  right 
when  they  said  that  the  doctrine  of  the  New 
Testament  is  the  doctrine  of  the  other  life. 
Many  are  the  blessings  that  spring  up,  flower- 
like, in  the  track  of  faith.  Here,  by  fidelity 
and  by  love,  we  may  enjoy  God  as  well  as 
glorify  Him  ;  but  the  hope  of  the  New  Testa- 


THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        167 


ment  is  beyond  the  years  of  time.  As  Bunyan 
put  it,  "Children,  the  milk  and  honey  are 
beyond  this  wilderness." 


Ill 

We  see,  then,  that  what  Christ  cared  for 
supremely  was  not  quantity,  but  quality.  He 
did  not  seek  to  gather  a  multitude  who  followed 
Him  for  the  loaves  and  fishes,  mercenaries  who 
would  flinch  at  the  critical  hour.  He  knew 
that  these  would  in  the  long-run  weaken  His 
Church,  chill  its  life  and  ardour  and  courage, 
put  it  to  shame  before  the  world.  He  left 
very  few  believers  behind  Him,  but  they  were 
the  small  transfigured  band  whom  the  world 
could  not  tame.  He  was  always  testing, 
sifting,  searching  His  disciples,  always  seeking 
for  those  who  would  be  able  to  withstand  in 
the  evil  day,  and,  having  done  all,  to  stand. 
We  may  see  for  ourselves  that  the  revivals  of 
religious  life  come  always  from  a  few.  The 
history  of  the  Church  is  full  of  the  lesson.  A 
few  men  who  have  counted  the  cost,  who  have 


i68         THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 

made  up  their  minds  to  peril  all,  who  have 
relinquished  worldly  ambition,  band  them- 
selves together,  and  what  is  the  result  ?  You 
see  it,  for  example,  in  the  Oxford  Movement, 
a  movement  which  has  brought  much  evil 
in  its  train,  but  which,  nevertheless,  had  a 
genuine  force  of  conviction  behind  it.  Its 
leaders  might  have  looked  forward  to  the 
highest  places  in  a  worldly  Church,  but,  almost 
without  exception,  they  lived  and  died  poor. 
They  made  sacrifices  for  their  faith,  and  they 
were  so  richly  compensated  in  the  inward  life 
that  they  never  uttered  a  word  of  complaint. 
Even  if  but  one  man  is  faithful  to  a  cause,  that 
cause  is  not  lost.  However  dark  the  skies 
may  be,  there  is  a  rift  in  the  darkness,  and 
that  rift  will  widen  and  conquer.  Men  of  one 
mind  and  one  purpose,  single-hearted  and 
faithful,  and  visibly  without  care  or  fear,  will 
in  due  time  bring  others  round  them.  A 
glowing  centre  of  fire  will  subdue  the  black 
mass  to  itself. 


THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        169 
IV 

We  learn  from  these  words  to  trust  Christ 
more  than  ever,  to  trust  His  silences  as  well 
as  His  promises.  He  did  not  say  very  much 
about  Heaven  in  those  years  of  His  earthly 
travail.  Even  at  the  last  He  did  not  give  His 
disciples  a  description  or  an  inventory  of  the 
New  Country.  He  asked  them  to  trust  Him, 
and  did  a  little  more  than  that.  What  they 
believed  was  that  in  the  Father's  house 
there  were  many  mansions.  He  confirmed 
that  faith,  but  He  went  on  to  add  the  gracious 
words,  "  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you."  It 
was  as  if  He  said,  *'  In  My  Father's  house  are 
many  mansions,  still  I  go  to  prepare  a  place 
for  you."  As  if  the  mansions  were  not  good 
enough,  but  needed  the  finishing  touch  of 
His  love.  We  know  what  that  means.  When 
a  guest  is  coming  to  the  house,  the  hostess 
prepares.  The  rooms  are  there,  the  furniture 
is  there,  but  the  thoughtful,  tender-hearted 
woman  has  something  to  do  beyond  making 
them    ready.     She    prepares    for    the    guest. 


I70        THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 


This,  she  says  to  herself,  is  his  favourite 
flower,  his  favourite  book,  and  that  little 
touch  of  kindness  makes  the  welcome  perfect. 
It  may  not  be  much  that  she  is  able  to  do, 
but  the  little  means  that  she  would  fain  do 
all.  So  Christ  prepares  for  Peter,  prepares 
for  John,  prepares  for  Thomas.  He  knows 
what  they  like,  and  He  does  not  forget. 
So  He  prepares  for  His  people  through  the 
generations  till  the  end  arrives.  They  will 
find  that  He  has  made  ready  the  flower,  the 
book. 

So,  then,  let  us  cherish  our  dreams.  They 
will  all  come  true  in  Him.  It  is  in  His  love 
that  we  are  to  find  our  happiness,  not  in 
anything  apart  from  His  love.  What  He  gives 
is  precious  as  the  gift  of  love,  and  we  may 
trust  Him,  trust  Him  even  when  He  does 
not  speak.  Do  not  ask  texts  for  everything. 
There  are  those  who  cannot  believe  the 
Father  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh  unless  He 
is  bound  down  by  black  and  white.  But  let 
us  have  faith  in  the  heart  of  things.  Trust 
Christ    in    His    promises,    trust    Him    in    His 


THE  FRANKNESS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        171 

silences.      Golden    is    the    speech    of    Christ : 
golden  also  is  His  silence. 

Let  us  go  forth,  therefore,  unto  Him 
without  the  camp  bearing  His  reproach.  Let 
us  esteem  the  reproach  of  Christ  greater 
riches  than  the  treasures  of  Egypt.  Let  us 
give  all  for  love,  and  count  the  world  well 
lost.  Let  us  count  the  cost  and  pay  it,  pay 
it  in  obedience  to  an  impulse  which  in  its 
turn  is  obedient  to  reason,  to  the  exalted,  the 
transfigured,  the  unworldly  reason.  In  the 
great  words  of  Lessing,  ''  He  who  does  not 
lose  his  reason  in  certain  things  has  none 
to  lose." 


THE    FATHER   AND   THE 
THREE    SONS^ 

When  he  was  yet  a  great  way  off,  his  father  saw  him,  and 
had  compassion,  and  ran,  and  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed 
him.  .  .  .  Now  his  elder  son  was  in  the  field. — Luke  xv.  20,  25. 

The  Romance  of  Grace,  as  this  story  of  the 
prodigal  has  been  called,  is  in  a  manner  in- 
complete— suggestively,  wistfully,  pathetically 
incomplete.  Yet  we  find  God's  completeness 
in  it  when  we  remember  that  it  was  spoken  by 
the  Eternal  Son.  The  Redeemer  told  the 
story,  and  He  told  it  foreknowing  all  that  was 
so  soon  to  be,  the  tempest  in  the  grey  garden, 
the  mockery  in  the  house  of  Annas,  the 
dereliction  on  the  Cross.  But  He  did  not 
speak  of  Himself.  On  His  own  share  He  is 
so    utterly   silent    that    the    silence    becomes 

^  Dedication   sermon    of    Woodford   Union    Church    (Rev.   Joseph 
Hocking's).     Preached  on  Thursday,  April  28,  1904. 

172 


THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS      173 

eloquent.  Because  He  says  nothing  of  His 
share  in  the  home-bringing,  had  He  no  share  ? 
Just  because  He  says  nothing,  all  the  space 
between  the  lines  is  heavy  with  excess  of 
meaning.  He  Who  speaks  to  us  was  the 
Minister  of  God's  grace,  the  Redeemer  of 
guilty  sinners,  and  when  that  is  kept  in  view 
each  detail  falls  into  its  place. 


Withdrawing  the  light  from  Himself,  our 
Lord  concentrates  it  on  three,  the  prodigal 
son,  the  father,  and  the  elder  brother.  He 
teaches  us  what  we  have  been  so  ready  to 
forget,  that  the  coming  home  of  the  soul  is  not 
merely  a  coming  to  oneself,  a  coming  to  the 
father,  but  also  a  coming  to  the  elder  brother. 
That  was  how  Christ  peopled  the  house  which 
the  son  had  left — with  a  father  and  an  elder 
son.  He  might  have  filled  it  otherwise,  for 
sometimes  the  prodigal  comes  back  to  a  mother 
and  brothers  and  sisters,  but  for  His  purpose 
He  needed  but  the  two.     Christians  are  very 


174  THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS 

slow  to  learn  that  conversion  in  the  New 
Testament  sense  is  not  the  return  of  the  lonely 
soul  to  the  only  God.  It  is  the  renewal  of 
human  ties  that  have  been  broken  as  well  as 
of  Divine.  The  return  to  God  is  a  return  to 
the  Church.  There  have  been  mystics  who 
have  found  God  and  lived  on  Him  without 
entering  into  relation  with  their  brethren  in 
Christ.  But  just  as  the  perfection  of  human 
life  cannot  be  achieved  apart  from  fellowship, 
so  the  soul  separated  from  its  kindred  takes 
distorted  forms.  The  New  Testament  con- 
templates every  Christian  as  a  member  ,of  the 
Church  of  which  Jesus  is  the  Head,  growing 
up  in  harmony  and  fulness  to  the  measure 
of  the  stature  of  Christ.  Christian  growth 
becomes  fair  and  strong  not  in  a  cloistered  and 
remote  piety,  but  in  the  communion  of  the 
household  of  God.  So  whenever  evangelistic 
work  has  been  fruitful  and  permanent  in  its 
results,  it  has  conducted  the  soul  home  to  the 
Church  as  well  as  home  to  God.  The  work  of 
George  Whitefield  was  in  its  day  as  successful 
and  outstanding  as  that  of  Wesley,  but  there 


THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS       175 

is  no  comparison  now,  for  whereas  Whitefield 
allowed  his  work  to  become  scattered  by 
ignoring  methods  of  organisation,  Wesley  was 
constructive,  and  formed  his  converts  into 
classes  and  churches.  This,  then,  is  the  first 
lesson,  that  conversion  is  a  return  to  the 
brethren  as  well  as  a  return  to  the  Father. 


II 

Nothing  could  add  to  the  picture  of  the 
father  and  his  grace  given  by  Jesus.  A 
modern  writer  has  said  that  the  feature  of  the 
parable  is  the  magnificent  repentance  of  the 
prodigal.  It  was  a  magnificent  repentance, 
a  repentance  that  made  no  excuses,  that 
humbled  itself  utterly.  But  more  magnificent 
by  far  was  the  forgiveness  of  the  father.  Day 
after  day  he  was  watching  when  there  seemed 
no  hope  of  the  wanderer  appearing,  day  by 
day  looking  out  with  a  hungry,  expectant 
heart,  running  a  great  way  to  meet  the  sinner 
whenever  he  turned  to  the  abandoned  home, 
asking    no    question,    speaking    no    word    of 


176  THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS 

rebuke,  refusing  to  hear  the  confession  out, 
calling  for  the  robe,  and  the  ring,  and  the  feast. 
How  Jesus  delighted  in  God  the  Father  as 
He  told  this  story !  What  faith  He  had  in 
the  abysses  of  fatherly  tenderness.  This  was 
the  love  which  had  been  the  life  of  Christ, 
the  love  of  the  Son  for  the  Father,  of  the 
Father  for  the  Son.  To  Him  there  was  no 
love  like  a  Father's  love.  There  was  no 
wonder  of  grace  too  wonderful  for  the  Father's 
heart. 

Have  you  observed  that  when  Christ  spoke 
His  first  sermon  He  laid  hold  of  the  fatherli- 
ness  in  our  poor  fallen  human  nature  as  that 
which  in  a  manner  still  remained,  as  that  which 
was  the  deepest  image  of  God  still  visible  in 
men,  so  that  the  lost  could  say  as  one  poor 
heart  did,  ''  I  am  God's  coin."  How  did  our 
nature  appear  to  the  pure  eyes  that  searched 
it  out  in  silence  for  thirty  years  ?  When  He 
speaks  we  shall  know.  He  did  speak,  and 
He  said,  "  What  man  is  there  of  you,  whom, 
if  his  son  ask  bread,  will  he  give  him  a  stone  ? 
Or  if  he  ask  a  fish,  will  he  give  him  a  serpent  '^, 


THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS      ijy 

If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much  more  shall 
your  Father  which  is  in  Heaven  give  good 
things  to  them  that  ask  Him?"  Yes,  human 
nature  was  evil,  there  was  no  doubt  of  that. 
But  it  was  not  wholly  evil.  There  was  not  a 
man  among  all  who  were  listening  to  Him 
who  would  not  be  kind  to  his  child.  On  the 
part  of  the  father,  then,  there  is  no  obstacle. 
He  is  willing  to  be  gracious,  he  is  waiting  to 
be  gracious,  he  is  on  the  watch-tower,  he  runs 
a  great  way  to  meet  the  penitent.  Day  by 
day,  year  by  year,  he  keeps  looking,  and  when 
every  one  else  has  given  up  hope,  the  father 
still  refuses  to  despair  and  to  say,  **  He  will 
not  return  to  me."  . 

Ill 

So  much  for  the  attitude  of  the  father. 
What  is  the  attitude  of  the  Church  to  the 
self-made  exile  ?  What  is  the  attitude  of  the 
elder  brethren  ?  This  parable  contains  a 
representation  of  that  attitude  by  the  Eldest 
Brother,  and  we  shall  see  the  more  we  dwell 

N 


178  THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS 

on  it  how  true  and  pitiful  the  picture  is.  In 
the  first  place,  there  is  a  good  side  to  the 
Church,  for  we  read  "his  elder  son  was  in  the 
field."  That  was  a  good  place  to  be  in,  incom- 
parably better  than  the  far  country.  We  are 
told  how  the  elder  brother  worked  there. 
''  Lo,  these  many  years  do  I  serve  thee,"  and 
it  is  a  great  thing  to  serve  for  many  years  in 
the  heat  by  day  and  in  the  frost  by  night. 
**  Neither  transgressed  I  at  any  time  thy 
commandment,"  and  that  also  is  a  great  thing 
to  say,  no  black,  foul  transgression  staining 
and  soaking  the  years,  a  record  of  obedience 
never  broken  by  a  refusal.  Yes,  it  meant 
much,  and  the  father  knew  it,  for  he  said, 
"  Son,  thou  art  ever  with  me,  and  all  that  I 
have  is  thine."  Let  us  not  be  unjust  to  the 
elder  brother,  for  the  Eldest  Brother  is  most 
just.  The  farm  had  to  be  kept  up  and  worked, 
and  he  did  his  part  well.  He  had  never  been 
away  perhaps,  had  not  even  sought  amuse- 
ments or  holidays.  Prosaic  and  monotonous 
all  must  have  been  at  times,  as  all  good  work 
is,   but   he   had   stuck   to   it,  and   therein   was 


THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS      17c) 

most  worthy  of  praise.  Now  what  is  true  of 
him  is  true  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  The 
Church  of  Christ  is  being  constantly  reproached 
in  these  days,  reproached  by  those  outside, 
reproached  by  her  own,  till  loyal  workers  grow 
disheartened,  and  wonder  sometimes  whether 
there  is  any  better  means  of  doing  God's  work 
in  the  world  than  by  being  faithful  and  diligent 
in  His  Church.  There  is  no  better  way.  In 
spite  of  all  failures,  how  much  of  loyalty, 
fidelity,  self-denial,  endurance,  and  heroic  con- 
stancy mark  the  life  of  the  wonderful  Church 
of  Christ !  The  details  of  a  church  report 
may  be  prosaic  enough  on  the  surface,  but  to 
those  who  understand  what  they  all  mean, 
they  are  full  of  a  heavenly  poetry.  The 
collection  of  the  money,  the  keeping  up  of  the 
societies,  the  Sunday  school  teaching,  the 
Bible  class,  the  help  in  the  choir,  the  visiting, 
the  prayer  meetings,  the  unbroken,  hopeful, 
wistful  attendance  at  Divine  service — how 
good  they  all  are  !  How  often  it  has  refreshed 
my  soul  to  hear  burdened  men  in  the  city 
talking   about  the   work  of  the   chapels    they 


i8o       THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS 

love  and  live  for  !  We  make  far  too  little  of 
all  that.  We  do  not  recognise  the  workers  as 
we  should,  nor  do  we  acknowledge  the  value 
of  their  work.  I  am  sure  the  Lord  thinks 
very  differently  from  many  of  the  clever  critics. 
Not  till  the  voice  of  the  Master  is  heard 
saying,  "  Come  up  higher,"  will  it  be  known 
what  we  owe  to  our  faithful  hard-working 
deacons,  to  all  who  serve  Christ  among  us. 
When  I  think  of  all  that  is  involved  in  the 
building  of  a  church  like  this,  and  in  the  build- 
ing of  many  churches  where  circumstances  are 
more  difficult,  I  thank  God  and  take  courage. 
These  are  offerings  to  God  of  a  sweet-smelling 
savour.  What  the  critics  do  for  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  world  has  never  been  clear  to  me. 
What  is  clear  is  that  it  is  the  work  of  the 
Church  in  the  field,  the  unnoticed,  regular, 
obscure  work,  that  has  kept  the  soul  alive  in 
England. 

IV 

But   are    we    satisfied    with    the    Church  '^. 
Was  the   Eldest    Brother  satisfied.-*     He  did 


THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS      i8i 

not  criticise,  but  he  set  down  in  detail  the 
behaviour  of  the  elder  brother  with  a  touch  of 
tender  regret,  and  it  will  be  well  for  us  to 
study  his  picture. 

The  elder  son  had  given  up  hope  of  the 
younger.  He  had  cast  him  out.  He  said, 
**  Thy  son  "  ;  he  did  not  say,  "  My  brother." 
The  son  was  nothing  to  him  now.  It  was 
well  that  he  said,  "■  Thy  son."  It  is  well  for 
the  Church  to  remember  of  the  prodigal  that 
it  is  our  brother  who  is  estranged,  and  that 
our  brother  is  God's  son.  Next,  he  was  un- 
charitable, for  he  said,  *'  who  hath  devoured 
thy  living  with  harlots."  He  had  no  right  to 
say  that.  Was  it  true?  It  may  have  been, 
but  he  did  not  know  it,  and  even  if  he  knew 
it,  he  should  not  have  said  it.  The  Eldest 
Brother  did  not  say  so.  Let  us  not  make 
things  worse  than  they  are.  Nowadays  we 
hear  Churchmen  saying  the  working  man  will 
not  come  to  church  because  he  is  earthly, 
because  he  is  a  drunkard,  because  he  is  sensual, 
because  he  does  not  care  to  find  God.  Is  this 
true  ?     That  is  not  the  question.     This  is  the 


1 82  THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS 

voice  of  the  elder  brother,  and  the  Eldest 
Brother  hears  it.  It  may  be  true.  Yes,  but 
is  it  kind,  is  it  wise  ? 

The  Eldest  Brother  is  more  merciful. 
Have  you  noticed  the  immense  charity  of  God 
in  the  Bible  ?  The  grand  arraignments  of 
human  nature  come  more  from  penitents  and 
from  saints  than  from  God.  We  are  glad 
oftentimes  that  God  should  know  the  very 
worst  of  us,  glad  that  He  should  speak  of  our 
sins  as  crimson  and  scarlet. 

Thanks  for  the  word  of  old  time  said, 
Thanks  for  that  ghmmer  of  scarlet  dye ; 

All  we  sin-burdened  bow  the  head, 
Each  owning  the  chief  of  sinners  I. 

But  observe  how  the  Divine  courtesy  puts  it. 
*'  Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet  .  .  .  though 
they  be  red  like  crimson,"  I  do  not  say  they 
are.  Does  some  one  say,  "  I  could  prove  all 
I  have  said  about  the  prodigal "  }  Well,  and 
what  if  you  could  ? 

So  then  we  look  again  at  the  words,  "  the 
elder  son  was  in  the  field,"  and  somehow  they 
are  less  encouraging.     Observe  that  the  years 


THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS      183 


were  long.  "  These  many  years  have  I  served 
thee."  The  service  of  love  turns  years  into 
days,  and  God  has  no  use  for  a  man  with  a 
grievance.  "  Neither  transgressed  I,  but  I 
never  ran  before  and  anticipated  your  word,  I 
never  saw  the  look  in  your  eye.  It  was  a 
weariful  sense  of  duty  that  ruled  me.  Yes, 
life  was  cheerless,  worried,  and  blighted.  I 
was  in  the  field,  never  on  the  outlook,  never 
anticipating,  never  expecting,  hardly  even 
wishing.  I  might  have  been  in  the  field  and 
watched  there  for  the  shadow  of  the  returning 
child."  In  the  field — now  the  Eldest  Brother 
lays  his  finger  so  gently  on  his  sore.  ''You 
were  very  tired,  were  you  not  ?  in  the  isolated 
farm,  wishing  almost  that  the  house  might 
burn  down,  so  that  anyhow  the  dull  procession 
of  events  might  be  broken.  Did  you  not  feel 
the  townward  drift  from  the  monotony  of  the 
country  .^  Was  not  life  a  grinding  at  the  mill, 
divorced  from  freedom,  movement,  personal 
initiative,  eager  zest,  and  caught  in  the 
trammels  of  routine  ?  "  Yes,  it  was  so.  We 
know  how    it  is  with   us  in  the  Church,  how 


1 84  THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS 

organisation  tends  to  coldness,  and  regularity 
to  rigour,  and  respectability  to  pharisaism, 
how  the  hope  and  enthusiasm  and  passion  die 
out  of  the  soul,  and  we  are  content  to  hold  our 
own,  and  to  let  our  pews,  and  would  positively 
be  disturbed  if  a  prodigal  came  in  to  sit 
with  us. 

V 

What  is  the  Church  to  do  ? 

(i)  Keep  the  children  at  home.  Who  drove 
the  prodigal  out  .^  Perhaps  it  was  his  elder 
brother.  Anyhow,  we  must  never  let  the 
children  out.  Christ  never  meant  we  should. 
Born  into  the  Church  of  Christ,  they  should 
never  leave  it.  They  should  live  in  it,  love  it, 
serve  it,  die  in  it.  We  have  to  say  much 
about  religious  education  in  these  days,  but 
the  religious  education  is  the  education  of  the 
home  by  the  parents.  Parents,  if  you  are 
faithful  to  your  trust  for  the  first  eight  years, 
the  children  should  be  safe.  Saturate  them 
with  the  thought,  the  love,  the  name  of  Jesus, 
fill    their    hearts    with    texts    and    psalms    and 


THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS       185 

prayers,  and,  please  God,  they  will  stay. 
Hear  the  solemn  and  tender  command  of 
Christ,  more  imperative  as  it  comes  to  a 
parent  than  as  it  came  to  an  apostle,  "  Feed 
My  lambs."  Many  a  one  has  resisted  all 
temptation,  the  long  trial  of  the  reason,  the 
briefer  and  fiercer  temptation  of  the  passions, 
the  test  of  success  and  failure,  and  has  con- 
quered. The  secret  of  it  all  is  the  little  prayer 
taught  by  the  mother  who  died  early,  and  took 
the  pledge  from  her  little  son  that  he  would 
never  miss  it  morning  or  night.  That  pledge 
has  been  kept,  and  so  the  life  has  not  strayed 
from  the  bosom  of  the  Church. 

(2)  Then,  are  we  sure  we  wish  them  to 
come  back  after  they  have  long  gone  ?  They 
have  been  in  the  far  country  for  years  now, 
and  will  never  be  what  they  were.  Do  we 
want  them  to  come  again  and  trouble  us  in 
their  rags,  their  misery,  their  sores,  their 
shame  ?  Are  our  eyes  on  the  long,  dusty 
road  down  which  they  may  be  coming  even 
now  ?  When  the  Church  longs  for  the  prodigal 
as  the  Father  longs,  then  will  come  the  great 


1 86  THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS 

day  of  reconciliation  and  weeping.  I  know 
that  from  the  pulpit  of  this  church  there  will 
be  a  welcome.  I  know  that  my  friend,  your 
minister,  will  be  ready  to  meet  those  who  have 
wandered  in  any  track  that  leads  from  God, 
that  he  will  be  patient  with  the  doubter,  that 
he  will  plead  with  the  careless,  that  he  will 
believe  in  the  profligate  who  has  lost  faith  in 
himself.  But  will  his  spirit  be  the  spirit  of 
this  church,  or  will  you  be  satisfied  with  the 
ninety-and-nine  who  are  safe,  with  the  well- 
filled  pews,  and  suffer  no  heartache  for  those 
who  are  gone  away  .^ 

(3)  You  will  observe  that  the  Eldest  Brother 
leaves  the  end  doubtful.  Did  the  elder 
brother  go  in  and  sit  down  with  the  father  and 
the  prodigal  and  the  servants  ?  Will  the 
Church  of  Christ  cease  to  play  the  part  of  the 
elder  brother,  and  share  the  father's  heart  '^. 
We  have  been  letting  them  slip  ;  all  the  time 
they  have  been  slipping  from  our  homes,  from 
our  Sunday  schools,  from  our  churches.  They 
are  slipping  away  still  every  hour  of  every  day. 
If  we   are   to   bring   them   back    we    must   do 


THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS       187 

much  more  than  welcome  them.  Some  of  us 
at  least  must  go  out  with  the  Eldest  Brother 
to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  is  lost.  Is  it 
possible  that  it  may  be  right  for  a  redeemed 
soul  to  love  the  estranged  even  more  than  it 
loves  Christ  ?  What  said  the  Divine  apostle  ? 
''  I  could  wish  that  myself  were  accursed  from 
Christ  for  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen  according 
to  the  flesh."  We  are  not  to  give  an  intel- 
lectual analysis  of  that  most  passionate  of  all 
human  cries.  We  can  never  repair  the  past 
except  by  sacrifice,  but  when  we  are  willing 
Christ  will  show  us  how  great  things  we  must 
suffer  for  His  name's  sake.  For  He  goes  out 
to  the  far  country  and  pleads — 

My  blood  so  red 

For  thee  was  shed. 
Come  home  again,  come  home  again, 
My  own  sweetheart,  come  home  again. 

You've  gone  astray, 

Out  of  your  way  ; 
Come  home  again,  come  home  again. 

We  can  never  offer  the  atoning  sacrifice,  but 
we   may  fill   up   that   which   is   behind   of  the 


1 88  THE  FATHER  AND  THE  THREE  SONS 

afflictions  of  Christ.  When  we  do  that,  when 
our  wandering  brethren  see  the  print  of  the 
nails  upon  us,  they  will  return.  ''  The  Church 
was  born  crucified,"  said  Lacordaire.  Have 
her  wounds  been  healed  and  their  record 
obliterated?  If  so,  the  wounds  must  be  in- 
flicted anew.  The  world  will  come  back  to 
the  Church  when  it  sees  the  Church  crucified 
with  Christ.     And  so 

Measure  thy  life  by  loss  instead  of  gain, 

Not  by  the  wine  drunk,  but  by  the  wine  poured  forth. 


''THE  SOUND  OF  A  TRUMPET  AND 
THE  VOICE  OF  WORDS''^ 

The  sound  of  a  trumpet  and  the  voice  of  words. — Hebrews 
xii.  19. 

On  February  23,  1791,  John  Wesley  preached 
his  last  sermon  at  Leatherhead  in  the  dining- 
room  of  a  magistrate  from  the  text,  "  Seek 
ye  the  Lord  while  He  may  be  found,  call  ye 
upon  Him  while  He  is  near."  Thus  that 
wonderful  voice  fell  silent — that  voice  which 
they  who  heard  entreated  that  the  word  should 
be  spoken  to  them  for  evermore.  He  was 
then  eighty-eight,  and  the  long  course  of  his 
earthly  life,  with  its  afflictions,  its  homeless- 
ness,  its  fatigue,  and  its  constant  triumph  in 
Christ,  was  nearing   the  end.     The  next  day 

^  Sermon   preached   at   the   opening   of  the  Wesley   Memorial  at 
Leatherhead,  Februaiy  23,  1905. 

189 


190  ''THE  SOUND  OF  A   TRUMPET 

he  wrote  his  last  letter,  denouncing  ''  the 
execrable  villainy"  of  slavery.  He  died  on 
March  2.  For  many  years  he  had  lived  in 
the  second  rest — that  rest  where  Christ's  yoke 
is  easy  and  His  burden  light.  Spiritual  throes 
and  pangs,  earthly  cares  and  fears,  were  far  in 
the  past,  and  it  was  with  him  as  with  his  friend 
Fletcher  of  Madeley,  of  whom  he  testified  that 
he  died  in  an  unspeakable  calmness  and 
serenity  of  spirit,  "a  tranquillity  in  the  Blood 
of  Christ  which  keeps  the  souls  of  believers  in 
their  latest  hour,  even  as  a  garrison  keeps  a 
city."  So  he  went  home  from  the  life  which 
he  himself  had  described  as  **  a  few  days  in  a 
strange  land." 

I  have  chosen  as  a  motto  rather  than  a  text 
a  phrase  from  the  passage  in  Hebrews  where 
the  terrors  of  Sinai  are  contrasted  with  the 
peace  of  Sion.  At  Sinai  there  was  the  sound 
of  a  trumpet  and  the  voice  of  words, — the 
tempest,  the  terror,  the  fire,  and  the  quaking. 
But  Sion  is  the  home  of  all  stable  and  tranquil 
things.  We  come  to  it  now  by  faith,  but  only, 
as  it  were,  in  moonlight  and  in  silence.      No 


AND  THE   VOICE  OF  WORDS"  191 

sound  is  heard  but  the  voice  of  the  blood  of 
sprinkling,  which  speaketh  better  things  than 
that  of  Abel.  We  shall  come,  if  it  please 
God,  one  day  in  the  sunlight  and  the  song. 

The  points  I  wish  to  make  clear  to-day  are 
very  simple.  For  true  preaching  and  true 
revival  we  need  two  things — the  sound  of  a 
trumpet  and  the  voice  of  words.  The  sound 
of  a  trumpet  is  in  vain,  if  the  voice  of  words 
does  not  follow  it.  The  end  is  that  false 
enthusiasm  dying  in  grey  ashes  which  no  one 
denounced  more  fervently  than  John  Wesley. 
There  must  be  instruction  after  evangelisation, 
or  all  is  in  vain.  It  has  been  nobly  said  that 
"  life  is  spent  in  learning  the  meaning  of  great 
words,  so  that  some  idle  proverb  known  for 
years  and  accepted  perhaps  as  a  truism  comes 
home  on  a  day  like  a  blow."  But  we  never 
know  the  meaning  of  great  words  till  the 
sound  of  a  trumpet  rouses  the  soul  from 
slumber.  The  work  of  John  Wesley  is  most 
fitly  described  in  this  twofold  aspect  as  the 
sound  of  a  trumpet  and  the  voice  of  words. 


192  ''THE  SOUND  OF  A   TRUMPET 


He  set  the  trumpet  to  his  mouth  and 
sounded  It  at  a  time  when  religion  In  England 
seemed  dying  or  dead.  Even  In  secular  life 
there  was  a  leisurely  procession,  with  many 
sober  pauses  of  which  we  know  little  now.  In 
the  Church  there  was  a  much  denser  stupor,  a 
spiritual  slumber  so  profound  that  godly  men 
openly  despaired,  and  to  others  It  seemed  as  If 
Christianity  had  waxed  old,  and  was  ready  to 
vanish  away.  The  voice  of  words  continued, 
but  they  seemed  to  be  spoken  to  no  purpose. 
One  of  the  greatest  Christian  thinkers  of 
England,  Bishop  Butler,  sat  oppressed  in  his 
castle  with  hardly  a  hope  surviving.  He  did 
not  know  that  the  day  of  the  Lord  had  come, 
and  that  the  prayers  of  the  hearts  that  broke 
for  the  Lord's  appearing  had  been  answered. 

For  when  John  Wesley  began  his  unparal- 
leled apostolate,  he  sounded  a  trumpet  in 
Sion.  His  words  to  the  people  were  such 
short,  sharp  signal  -  calls  as  St.  Augustine 
heard    In    the    garden    when    the    child    said, 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  WORDS''  193 

"  Take,  read."  He  stood  on  his  father's  tomb 
and  cried  aloud,  "  By  grace  are  ye  saved 
through  faith."  He  preached  on  the  question, 
''Why  will  ye  die,  O  House  of  Israel?"  till 
the  people  trembled  and  were  still.  He 
enlarged  on  the  deep  words,  "  Repent,  and 
believe  the  Gospel."  From  the  text,  "  The 
Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive 
sins,"  he  declared  the  great  salvation.  He 
spoke  directly  to  the  consciousness.  The 
important  point  with  him  was  consciousness, 
everywhere  consciousness.  The  core  of  his 
creed  was  personal  perception  and  appropria- 
tion of  the  work  of  Christ.  Of  Butler,  for  all 
his  greatness,  it  has  been  truly  said  by  his 
deepest  student  that  the  "  religious  conscious- 
ness does  not  receive  from  him  the  slightest 
consideration,  whereas  it  is  with  its  nature  and 
functions  that  the  scientific  theology  of  the 
present  time  is  almost  entirely  occupied." 
When  Butler  died,  Wesley  had  completed 
fourteen  years  of  his  work,  and  within  earshot 
of  the   Bishop's  castle  the  Methodist  colliers 

were  singing  their  ecstatic  hymns.     The  sleep 

o 


194  ''THE  SOUND  OF  A   TRUMPET 

had  been  shattered.  The  spiritual  live-shell 
had  burst  among  the  people,  killing  conven- 
tionality and  wounding  self-satisfaction  with 
a  deadly  wound.  The  people  had  awakened 
at  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  and  lo !  it  was 
morning.  The  sun  was  up  and  the  dew  was 
on  the  grass.  Wesley  and  Whitefield  and  the 
rest  were  ''  out  of  breath  pursuing  souls." 

The  love  of  Christ  doth  me  constrain 
To  seek  the  wandering  souls  of  men  ; 
With  cries,  entreaties,  tears  to  save, 
To  snatch  them  from  the  gaping  grave. 

The  Gospel  won  its  triumph  everywhere, 
as  Wesley  said — among  the  miners  in  Corn- 
wall, the  colliers  in  Kingswood,  the  drunkards 
of  Moorfields,  and  the  harlots  of  Drury  Lane. 
They  awoke  and  heard  the  word,  "In  the 
Divine  purpose  there  are  lines  of  love  for 
tkee^  Butler  had  preached  his  great  sermons 
at  Stanhope,  but  when  John  Wesley  visited 
the  place  near  the  end  of  his  life,  he  describes 
it  as  "  famed  for  nothing  but  a  very  uncommon 
degree  of  wickedness." 

The    sound    of    a    trumpet.       Our    newer 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  WORDS''  195 

psychology,  however  little  we  may  agree  with 
its  conclusions,  has  at   least   brought  out  the 
richness    of    what    is    called    our    subliminal 
consciousness.     We  know  now  that  the  mind 
of  man   is  peopled,  like  a  silent  city,  with  a 
sleeping    company  of  memories,   associations, 
impressions,  loves,  hates,  fears,  relentings  that 
may  be  wakened  into  fierce  activity  by  some 
trumpet    blast.      Indeed,  this   subliminal    con- 
sciousness  may   be    so    much    more    thronged 
than  the  working  consciousness,  that  when  it  is 
called  forth  it  may  submerge  the  personality, 
and  elect  for  itself  a  new  king  to  reign  over  it. 
The  crowd  of  insurgent  spirits  may  overthrow 
the   old   monarchy.     In   the   people   to  whom 
Wesley  spoke   there   were   God    knows   what 
memories,  though  the   lamp  of  prophecy  had 
been   burning   very   low.     There  were  in  the 
darkened  souls  texts,  prayers,  psalms,  hymns, 
words   of  love    and   yearning   spoken   by  lips 
long  mute.     And   these  were  heard  again  at 
the  trumpet  blast.     The  sound  of  the  trumpet 
may  come  in  some  great  experience,  and  will 
come  again  and  again,  even  when  the  soul  has 


196  ''THE  SOUND  OF  A   TRUMPET 

been  wakened  from  its  sleep.  Then,  too,  the 
voice  of  words  is  understood.  Said  a  friend 
to  me,  "  I  used  to  think  the  inscriptions  on 
gravestones  intensely  commonplace.  Since  I 
buried  my  child  and  put  a  gravestone  over  her, 
there  is  not  an  inscription  which  has  not  been 
full  of  meaning  to  me."  John  Wesley's  was  a 
soul  that  never  seemed  to  slumber,  and  yet  we 
read  that  after  his  brother  died,  when  he  was 
a  very  old  man,  he  gave  out  at  Bolton  the 
hymn,  "■  Come,  O  Thou  Traveller  unknown." 
When  he  tried  to  read  the  lines — 

My  company  before  is  gone, 
And  I  am  left  alone  with  thee, 

he  broke  down  under  uncontrollable  emotion, 
burst  into  a  flood  of  tears,  sat  down  in  the 
pulpit,  and  hid  his  face  in  his  hands,  while  all 
the  people  wept.  Shortly  after  he  visited  his 
friend,  the  widow  of  Fletcher,  and  she  wrote 
that  his  soul  was  "  far  more  sunk  into  God, 
and  such  an  unction  attends  his  words  that 
each  sermon  was  indeed  spirit  and  life." 


AND  THE   VOICE  OF  WORDS''  197 

II 

The  voice  of  words.  Wesley  was  a  great 
teacher  as  well  as  a  great  evangelist,  and  no 
man  did  more  for  the  training  and  schooling 
of  his  converts.  No  man  attached  greater 
importance  to  the  voice  of  words,  to  constant 
and  Scriptural  instruction.  We  put  in  the 
fore-front  the  great  saving  truths  which  he 
exalted  with  the  whole  Church  of  Christ.  "  If 
we  could  once  bring  all  our  preachers,  itinerant 
and  local,  uniformly  and  steadfastly  to  insist 
on  these  two  points  —  Christ  dying  for  us, 
and  Christ  reigning  in  us,  we  should  shake  the 
trembling  gates  of  hell."  But  his  tranquillity 
to  the  very  end  was  a  tranquillity  in  the 
Blood  of  Christ.  If  he  had  been  asked  to 
define  the  special  truth  committed  to  the  care 
'  of  Methodists,  he  would  undoubtedly  have 
referred  to  his  doctrine  of  Christian  per- 
fection. But  he  would  never  have  rested 
his  hope  of  salvation  on  any  attainment  or 
achievement  of  his  own.  His  angelical 
friend — Fletcher — for   his    last  months    scarce 


198  ''THE  SOUND  OF  A   TRUMPET 

ever    lay    down    or    rose    up    without    these 
words  in  his  mouth — 

I  nothing  have,  I  nothing  am, 
My  treasure's  in  the  bleeding  Lamb, 
Both  now  and  evermore. 

He  said,  "  I  trust  I  shall  never  leave  the 
shadow  of  Christ's  Cross,  the  clefts  of  the  rock 
pierced  and  smitten  for  us."  When  John 
Wesley  was  dying,  he  said,  "  When  at  Bristol 
my  words  were,  *  I  the  chief  of  sinners  am,  but 
Jesus  died  for  me.' "  A  friend  beside  him 
asked,  '*  Is  that  your  language  now  ?  "  "  Yes," 
said  he,  "  Christ  is  all.  He  is  all."  He  seldom 
spoke,  but  once  in  a  wakeful  interval  was 
heard  saying  in  a  low,  distinct  voice,  '*  There 
is  no  way  into  the  holiest  but  by  the  Blood  of 
Jesus."  Then,  referring  to  the  text,  "  Ye 
know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that, 
though  He  was  rich,  yet  for  our  sakes  He 
became  poor,  that  we  through  His  poverty 
might  be  rich,"  he  remarked  with  solemn 
emphasis,  *'  That  is  the  foundation,  the  only 
foundation ;  there  is  no  other."  When  he 
died,  his  friends  remembered  that  his  mother 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  WORDS''  199 


had  said,  "  Children,  as  soon  as  I  am  dead 
sing  a  song  of  praise."  It  was  fit  that, 
standing  about  his  body,  they  should  sing — 

Waiting  to  receive  thy  spirit, 
Lo,  the  Saviour  stands  above ; 

vShows  the  purchase  of  His  merit, 
Reaches  out  the  crown  of  Love. 

It  is  certain  also  that  Wesley's  doctrine  of 
Christian  perfection  is  not  a  theological  dogma, 
but  intensely  ethical  and  practical.  He  had 
satisfied  himself  that  the  great  majority  of 
Christians  were  not  living  the  life  of  the  New 
Testament.  He  believed  that  the  whole  fruit  of 
the  Spirit — love,  joy,  peace — might  be  planted 
in  the  inmost  soul  and  take  deep  root  in  the 
heart.  But  he  believed  that  for  the  attain- 
ment of  such  perfection  it  was  necessary  to  be 
obedient  in  all  things  to  the  law  of  Christ,  and 
he  did  not  shrink  from  the  consequences. 

I  shall  touch  only  on  one  point — his  teach- 
ing on  money.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  ex- 
pound the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  to  obey 
it  as  he  understood  it.  He  knew  that  the 
Sermon  on   the  Mount  was  law,  not  Gospel, 


20O  "  THE  SOUND  OF  A  TRUMPET 

though  Gospel-law,  and  suggesting  everywhere 
the  calls  and  succours  of  the  Gospel  that  was 
coming.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  drove 
men  to  the  Gospel,  and  once  they  had 
received  the  Gospel  they  turned  back  to  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  again,  so  that  in  a 
manner  it  is  the  end  as  well  as  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  life.  But  Wesley  laid  a 
special  stress  on  its  teaching  about  money. 
To  the  very  end  of  his  life  he  was  burdened 
with  the  fear  that  money  was  corrupting  rich 
Methodists.  When  he  was  eighty-seven  he 
declared  that  one  great  reason  of  the  compara- 
tive failure  of  Christianity  was  the  neglect  of 
the  solemn  words,  "  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves 
treasures  on  earth."  He  even  regretted  that 
in  the  beginning  he  was  not  as  firm  about 
dress  as  the  Quakers  or  the  Moravian 
brethren.  Diligence  and  frugality  must  pro- 
duce riches,  and  the  only  way  of  escape  was 
to  bestow  them.  In  his  own  exposition  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  he  is  very  explicit. 
"  How  is  it  possible  for  a  rich  man  to  grow 
richer  without  denying  the  Lord  that  bought 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  WORDS''  201 


him  ?  Yet  how  can  any  man  who  has  already 
the  necessaries  of  life  gain  or  aim  at  more  and 
be  guiltless  ?  '  Lay  not  up,'  saith  our  Lord, 
'treasures  upon  earth.'  If,  in  spite  of  this, 
you  do  and  will  lay  up  money  or  things 
which  moth  or  rust  may  corrupt,  or  thieves 
break  through  and  steal ;  if  you  will  add  house 
to  house  or  field  to  field — why  do  you  call 
yourself  a  Christian?  You  don't  obey  Jesus 
Christ.  Why  do  you  name  yourself  by  His 
name  ?  '  Why  call  ye  Me  Lord,  Lord,'  saith 
He  Himself,  'and  do  not  the  things  that  I 
say  ?  '  "  For  himself,  Wesley  died  as  he  had 
lived,  without  a  purse.  He  might  have  been 
a  rich  man,  but  he  spent  nothing  on  himself  if 
he  could  possibly  help  it.  For  upwards  of 
seventy-six  years  he  kept  his  accounts  exactly, 
and  then  wrote,  "  I  will  not  attempt  it  any 
longer,  being  satisfied  with  the  continual 
conviction  that  I  save  all  I  can,  and  give  all  I 
can.     That  is  all  I  seek." 

So  with  the  voice  of  words,  full  and  rich, 
alike  in  theology  and  ethics,  Wesley  taught 
his  people.      Are    we   beyond    him    or    is    he 


202  ''THE  SOUND  OF  A  TRUMPET 

beyond  us  ?  Has  the  Christian  Church  faced 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  ?  Has  the  Christian 
Church,  in  particular,  thought  of  money  as 
Christ  and  the  Apostles  thought  of  it,  as 
the  subtlest  and  most  dangerous  of  all  tempt- 
ations ?  Has  the  Church  been  kept  back  from 
the  joy  and  peace  of  the  New  Testament  by 
failure  in  the  new  obedience  ?  These  are 
questions  which  will  become  more  and  more 
urgent  in  the  years  before  us. 

The  trumpet  of  revival,  Wesley  taught, 
must  be  the  trump  of  God.  All  our  fresh 
springs  are  in  the  Divine  Spirit.  Where  the 
first  life  was  found  we  must  find  the  new 
supplies.  The  flaming,  glowing  heart  that 
utters  itself  in  words  that  let  in  the  light  and 
the  life  and  love  of  God  to  the  soul  must  be 
baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  Only  that 
which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit,  and  the 
Spirit  is  given  in  answer  to  prayer.  It  is  in 
prayer,  when  we  reach  the  fulness  and  vehe- 
mence and  the  deepest  agony  of  desire,  that 
the  gift  of  the  Spirit  is  given,  and  the  Messiah 
comes.      When    Mrs.    Hill    met    Fletcher   he 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  WORDS''  203 

asked  her  who  the  Methodists  were.  "  The 
Methodists,"  said  she,  ''are  a  people  who  do 
nothing  but  pray.  They  are  praying  all  day 
and  all  night."  "Are  they?"  said  he;  "then 
with  the  help  of  God  I  will  find  them  out  if 
they  be  above  ground." 

What  hath  God  wrought !  You  are  doing 
honour  to  John  Wesley  this  day,  but  much 
more  to  his  Saviour.  You  are  showing  that 
these  things  he  taught  you  are  not  dreams, 
that  you  know  Whom  you  have  believed  and 
what  you  have  taken  in  hand,  and  that  your 
purpose  is  that  the  work  which  John  Wesley 
began  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago  shall 
grow  and  flourish.  There  will  be  heard  in 
this  place  for  generations  to  come  the  sound  of 
a  trumpet  and  the  voice  of  words.  Let  me 
sound  the  trumpet  now,  and  say  to  the  most 
hopeless  and  the  most  guilty  soul  before  me 
that  there  is  salvation  —  full,  free,  present 
salvation — through  the  Blood  of  Jesus.  You 
have  heard  till  you  are  weary  that  even  God 
cannot  alter  the  past.  Never  believe  it.  As 
a  great  sinner  has  said,  in  words  just  printed, 


204  "  THE  SOUND  OF  A   TRUMPET'' 

Christ  showed  that  the  commonest  sinner 
could  do  it,  that  it  was  the  one  thing  he  could 
do.  Repent  and  believe,  and  your  sins  are 
blotted  out,  and  you  are  loosed  from  them  all 
for  ever  in  His  own  Blood.  And  here  the 
voice  of  pleading  and  instruction  will  be  heard 
among  the  children,  and  their  life  in  Christ 
will  open  like  a  tender  dawn.  They  will  not 
need  to  know  the  experience  which  great 
transgressors  must  pass  through.  But  they 
will  learn  to  love  the  Saviour,  and  that  is 
enough.  "A  flower,  when  offered  in  the  bud, 
is  no  vain  sacrifice." 


THE   HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE^ 

And  every  man  went  unto    his  own   house.      Jesus   went 
unto  the  Mount  of  Olives. — John  vii.  53,  and  viii.   i. 

*'  The  Church  of  God  is  coming  up,  not  down, 
to  her  work  among  the  people."  This  is  as 
it  should  be  ;  specially  true  of  the  Wesleyan 
Methodist  Church,  which  may  have  been  for 
a  season  the  fashion  of  the  rich,  but  which  is 
for  all  time  the  heritage  of  the  poor.  Taking 
up  her  task,  the  Church  is  confronted  at  once 
by  the  intolerable  conditions  in  which  multi- 
tudes of  the  people  have  to  lead  their  life. 
The  social  problem  has  come  to  the  front, 
and  will  remain  there  till  some  solution  is 
attained.      I    wish    to    make    two   points    this 

morning — first,  that  the  Church  ought  to 
ri 

^  Sermon  preached  at  the  anniversary  of  the  West  London  Mission, 
*'*^r:en's  Hall,  Friday,  May  12,  1905. 

205 


\ 
\ 


2o6  THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

speak,  not  of  the  housing,  but  of  the  homing 
of  the  people ;  next,  that  the  Church  is  not 
so  much  the  home  of  the  people  as  the  home- 
maker  of  the  people. 

When  we  turn  to  our  Lord's  own  life,  we 
learn  the  Church's  duty.  Our  text  shows  us 
the  homeless  Christ.  His  disciples  had  their 
houses  to  go  to,  houses,  perhaps,  of  mud  and 
clay,  but  homes  in  spite  of  that.  But  with 
that  infinite  separateness,  as  it  has  been  called, 
which  ever  and  anon  fell  upon  all  His  relations, 
Jesus  went  to  the  Mount  of  Olives.  At  the 
beginning  of  His  ministry  they  marked  that 
separateness.  At  the  marriage  in  Cana  they 
said,  '*  Every  man  .  .  .  but  Thou."  So  it 
was  now.  Very  likely  no  hospitality  was 
offered  to  Him.  Perhaps  those  who  would 
fain  have  received  Him  had  no  room.  In 
any  case.  He  had  nowhere  to  lay  His  head. 
Verily,  He  knew  the  heart  of  a  strange^. 
He  had  come  from  Heaven  to  earth,  from  tb  t 
Throne  of  Glory  to  the  hall  of  unrighteous 
judgment.  He  came  unto  His  own,  arn^ 
His  own  received  Him  not.     He  began   \\\^ 


THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE  2o7 

earthly  career  in  a  manger,  and  ended  it  on 
the  hard  bed  of  the  Cross. 

But  Christ  had  an  earthly  home  once,  and 
not  very  long  before.  He  had  His  home  in 
Joseph's  cottage,  and  as  He  was  supposed  to 
be  the  Son  of  Joseph,  no  doubt  He  was  used 
to  call  that  home  **  My  father's  house."  It 
was  very  humble,  but  all  we  can  read  or 
imagine  shows  that  it  must  have  been  very 
happy.  The  Holy  Child  cast  the  mantle  of 
His  own  radiance  over  all  His  surroundings. 
He  grew  in  wisdom,  and  stature,  and  in  favour 
with  God  and  man.  When  the  time  came. 
He  took  His  share  in  the  bearing  of  the 
burden,  and  at  last  perhaps  He  bore  it 
altogether.  It  seems  as  if  when  Joseph  died 
He  became  the  Head  of  the  house,  and  His 
own  hands  ministered  to  His  necessities,  and 
the  necessities  of  those  who  were  with  Him. 
The  hands  that  were  in  after  days  to  touch 
the  little  children  in  their  innocence  and  the 
harlots  in  their  filth,  that  were  to  carry  the 
reed  of  scorn,  that  were  to  be  nailed  on  the 
tree,  were  hands  worn  and  soiled  by  labour. 


2o8  THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE 


But  I  say  that  the  home  was  happy.  We 
have  a  most  revealing  glimpse  in  the  words 
of  Mary  when  He  had  just  left  her.  She  said 
at  the  marriage,  ''  Whatsoever  He  saith  unto 
you,  do  it."  He  had  been  subject  to  them, 
but  they  had  been  subject  to  Him,  though 
unconsciously  ;  they  were  all  at  the  touch  of 
His  fingers.  Mary's  faith  was  to  be  shaken 
in  the  coming  tempests,  but  it  held  fast  at 
Nazareth.  The  home  was  lowly,  but  it  was 
blessed ;  and  those  who  pity  its  poverty  do 
not  understand.  One  who  had  compassion 
on  a  poor  scholar  in  his  shabby  room  at 
Kentish  Town  received  the  answer,  "You 
would  not  pity  my  present  condition  so  much 
if  you  had  seen  the  cottage  in  which  I  was 
born,  and  where  my  father  and  mother  loved 
each  other,  and  died  happier  than  on  their 
wedding-day.'" 

Then  for  a  time  He  had  a  home  in  the 
Church.  As  a  child  He  sought  the  Temple, 
and  worshipped  in  the  Synagogue.  So  dearly 
did  He  love  the  Temple,  that  it  seemed  to 
Him   as  a   boy  as   if  He  could  dwell   in   His 


THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE  209 


Father's  house  at  Jerusalem  all  the  days  of 
His  life  in  wonder  and  in  worship.  We  know 
how  He  was  driven  out.  We  remember  the 
wrath  of  the  Lamb  in  His  Father's  house. 
The  house  that  was  to  be  a  house  of  prayer 
for  all  nations  had  been  turned  into  a  den 
of  thieves. 

So  at  last  His  thoughts  turned  to  the 
Father's  house  above,  the  house  that  was 
His  home  before  all  worlds,  the  house  that 
He  was  to  prepare  as  the  home  of  His 
redeemed  people.  But  He  did  not  say  when 
He  was  nearing  His  end  that  He  Himself 
was  going  to  the  Father's  house.  He  was 
going  to  His  Father — ''  I  go  to  My  Father," 
to  the  deepest  bosom  of  the  Eternal  Love. 
Indeed,  this  has  been  His  home  through  all 
the  days  of  His  flesh.  He  had  never  been 
banished  therefrom  in  the  spirit,  though  in 
the  flesh  He  was  bearing  our  griefs  and 
carrying  our  sorrows.  In  His  early  interview 
with  Nicodemus,  when  it  was  night,  and 
the  wind  sighed  through  the  narrow  streets 
of  old   Jerusalem,    He   forgot    His    surround- 


2IO      THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

ings,  and  said,  "  The  Son  of  man  Who  is 
in  heaven."  Close  on  the  Cross  He  said, 
*'  Father,  I  will  that  they  also  whom  Thou 
hast  given  Me  may  be  with  Me  where  I  am," 
not  "where  I  shall  be,"  but  ''where  I  am." 
He  said  this  when  the  lanterns  and  torches 
were  kindled,  when  He  was  going  down  to 
the  full  bitterness  of  His  passion.  "  May  be 
with  Me,  that  they  may  behold  My  glory." 
The  glory  of  the  Easter  morning  ?  Yes. 
The  glory  of  the  third  heaven  ?  Yes.  The 
glory  of  the  judgment  day  ?  Yes.  But  the 
prophet  said,  "  He  was  despised  and  rejected 
of  men,  a  man  of  sorrows,  and  acquainted  with 
grief."  And  the  evangelist  comments.  These 
things  said  Esaias  when  he  beheld — not  His 
humiliation,  but  His  glory  :  the  humiliation 
was  the  glory. 

So  in  turn  our  Saviour  homes  His  people. 
He  is  their  home-maker  in  the  house,  in  the 
Church,  in  heaven. 


THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE  211 


First  comes  the  home  where  father,  mother, 
children  dwell  together.  Every  thoughtful 
observer  has  perceived  that  in  our  times 
many  things  threaten  the  home,  and  that  the 
home  must  be  defended  at  all  hazards  by  the 
Christian  Church.  The  family  is  to  Jesus  the 
indispensable  unit.  Its  foundation  is  laid  in 
His  pure,  severe,  and  final  law  of  marriage. 
The  home  is  not  to  be  at  the  mercy  of 
uncontrollable  temper,  or  of  unbridled  and 
shifting  desires.  It  is  to  be  the  refreshment 
of  all  who  live  in  it,  their  blessedness,  their 
peace,  their  reward,  and  their  discipline — 
their  discipline  in  forbearance  and  in  self- 
respect. 

Now,  there  cannot  be  a  home  without  a 
house,  and  multitudes  of  our  people  have  to 
live  in  houses  which  cannot  be  turned  into 
homes,  dens  where  self-respect  and  decency 
and  humanity  are  continually  outraged.  It  is 
well   that   the  Church   has   been   called  on   to 


212      THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

confront  the  problem.  No  doubt  the  Church 
has  taken  on  a  look  of  unreality  and  mis- 
directed energy.  There  has  been  for  years 
little  observable  contact  between  ecclesiastical 
and  theological  discussions  and  the  human 
needs  of  modern  life.  It  has  been  said  too 
truly  that  to  the  vast  majority  of  those 
who  were  most  concerned  in  the  social  ques- 
tion, the  Christ  of  the  Churches  has  become 
an  object  of  complete  indifference,  if  not 
of  positive  scorn.  Christ  is  honoured  as 
a  human,  unmysterious  leader  of  the  poor, 
utterly  removed  from  the  tradition  and  the 
creeds  of  Christian  worship.  The  Church 
has  to  retrieve  the  lost  ground,  and  that  in 
many  ways.  Already  a  beginning  has  been 
made,  already  we  perceive  that  we  have  to 
take  part  in  legislation  and  administration. 
Already  it  is  perceived  that  Christian  men 
are  doing  Christian  work  when  they  devote 
themselves  in  Councils  and  in  Parliament  to 
the  cause  of  social  reform.  We  have  also  to 
break  up  the  huge  aggregations  of  poverty 
in  our  great  cities  that  are  unrelieved  by  the 


THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE  21 


presence  and  example  of  the  well-to-do.  The 
first  duty  of  many  Christians  is  to  make  their 
homes  among  the  poor,  and  until  this  duty 
is  more  generally  fulfilled  progress  will  lag. 
Then  the  Church  has  to  alter,  it  may  be,  the 
whole  ideas  of  Christian  people  on  questions 
of  property.  It  has  to  teach  that  there  are 
duties  as  well  as  rights.  It  has  to  quicken 
the  conscience  of  the  slum  owner ;  it  has  to 
educate  the  children  of  the  rich  on  the 
questions  of  rent.  If  such  duties  are  not 
discharged,  the  reason  for  failure  must  be 
sought,  not  in  a  heightened,  but  in  a  lowered 
spirituality.  The  quickening  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  would  compel  the  Church  to  make 
sure  that  no  one  is  born  damned  into  the 
world. 

But  while  giving  the  fullest  place  to  this 
duty,  the  Church  has  to  go  far  beyond  it. 
The  problem  is  not  solved  in  the  least  if  we 
have  houses  and  nothing  but  houses.  The 
house  must  be  turned  into  a  home,  and  it 
may  be  that  the  more  house  the  less  home. 
We  can  see  it  not  seldom  in  human  life.     The 


214  THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

little  house  where  the  young  couple  were  so 
happy  and  so  poor  is  exchanged  for  the 
mansion,  but  the  mansion  is  not  half  so  much 
home  as  the  cottage  was.  If  we  could  lodge 
each  family  in  London  in  a  palace,  London 
might  be  further  from  God  than  she  is  now. 
For  a  home  you  must  have  a  home-maker, 
and  when  the  Church  sends  forth  home- 
makers,  she  is  working  surely  for  the  homing 
of  the  people.  A  young  man  comes  into  the 
house  of  God,  and  hearing  the  Word,  receives 
the  remission  of  sins  and  the  gift  of  eternal 
life.  Continuing  in  the  grace  of  God,  he 
becomes  the  head  of  a  household  round  whom 
wife  and  children  cling  in  loving  trust  and 
dependence.  He  becomes  in  his  measure 
one  of  those  who  keep  the  life  of  a  nation 
green,  one  of  those  whom  the  prophet  foresaw 
when  he  said,  *'  A  man  shall  be  as  an  hiding- 
place  from  the  wind,  and  a  covert  from  the 
tempest."  A  gay  and  thoughtless  girl  comes 
into  the  sanctuary,  and  her  heart  is  yielded 
to  the  Son  of  God.  She  goes  forth  to  be 
a    true    and    tender    woman,    a   home-maker 


THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE  215 

wherever  she  is,  a  home-maker  always,  even 
in  eternity.  Oi  those  you  teach  from  week 
to  week  many  are  home-makers,  for  the  light 
of  the  home  is  often  a  good  and  dear  child. 
There  is  no  way  so  quick  and  sure  of  homing 
the  people  as  to  send  out  home-makers  ;  and 
if  the  Church  fails  in  that,  no  political  or  social 
success  will  strengthen  her  or  forward  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

Nor  must  we  too  readily  admit  that  it  is 
useless  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  people  in  one 
room,  people  in  a  certain  depth  of  poverty. 
It  is  now  becoming  fashionable  to  ridicule 
evangelists  who  went  into  courts  of  miserable 
dwellings  and  declared  the  great  salvation. 
We  are  told  that  first  the  dwellings  should 
have  been  cleared  away,  and  then  the  Gospel 
should  be  preached.  But  how  many  evange- 
lists have  the  means  of  clearing  away  the 
slums  .-^  Have  they  no  message  then  for 
those  who  live  in  them  ?  May  they  not  say, 
"  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none,"  and  preach 
the  saving  Name  '^.  At  what  point  of  poverty 
does  it  become  impossible  for  men  or  women 


2i6  THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

to  hear  and  receive  the  Gospel  ?  Are  there 
in  London  now  any  people  poorer  and  more 
wretched  than  the  little  knot  of  forgotten 
Jews  to  whom  Jesus  said,  "  Come  unto  Me, 
all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and 
I  will  give  you  rest "  ?  A  great  lawyer  once 
remarked  that  he  had  never  seen  Christ's 
embrace  of  the  children  drawn  to  his  con- 
ception. The  children  were  beautiful,  healthy, 
and  happy.  He  imagined  Christ — the  Ever- 
lasting Father — as  folding  in  His  arms  little 
children  of  the  city,  pale,  thin,  half-starved, 
half-naked.  That  would  have  been  very  like 
Him.  I  can  discover  nothing  in  the  New 
Testament  which  forbids  you  or  me  to  preach 
His  glorious  Gospel  to  the  poorest,  the 
neediest,  the  hungriest  that  comes  within 
reach  of  our  voices.  If  they  receive  that 
Gospel  and  obey  it,  their  earthly  condition 
will  be  changed,  or  they  will  learn  to  live 
undefiled  in  that  condition.  As  it  is,  those 
who  know  the  poor  of  London  best  are  the 
first  to  testify  to  the  love  and  faith  that  survive 
in  the  darkest  places. 


THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE  217 

The  roar  of  London,  the  deep  undersong, 

The  myriad  music  of  immortal  souls 
High  couraged,  much  enduring  midst  the  lone 

Drear  toil  and  gloom  and  weariness.      It  rolls 
Over  me  with  all  power,  for  in  its  tone 
The  hearts  I  love  in  Christ  beat  with  mine  own. 

These  are  the  words  of  an  east-end  minister, 
who  died  at  his  post.  Another  keen  observer 
has  recently  remarked  that  "a  fierce  craze  for 
keeping  the  children  straight  is  an  almost 
universal  note  and  dominant  passion  among 
the  mothers  of  the  very  poor."  Let  us  thank 
God  and  take  courage. 

Christians  must  never  forget,  as  the  public 
mind  becomes  more  and  more  engrossed  with 
economics,  that  reformers  have  had  their  day 
and  done  their  work,  but  Christ  Jesus  and 
He  alone  still  gives  new  life.  He  is  not 
primarily  the  deviser  of  a  social  system,  but 
the  quickener  of  the  individual.  Instead  of 
regeneration  by  organisation,  He  offers  re- 
generation by  inspiration.  He  sees  life 
changed,  shaped,  and  glorified  by  the  life  of 
God,  and  regards  the  future  of  society  with  a 
splendid  and  unfaltering  hope.     Without  Him 


21 8      THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

no  social  changes  will  make  the  burden  of  loss 
lighter  or  the  fountain  of  tears  less  bitter. 


II 

The  Church  is  to  be  also  the  home  of  the 
people.  For  many,  for  most,  the  Church  is 
a  second  home  ;  but  for  a  multitude  it  is  all 
the  home  they  can  have.  Cardinal  Newman 
has  written  beautifully  on  the  Church  as  a 
Refuge  for  the  Lonely.  It  is  a  refuge  for 
many  who  are  old.  *'  She  was  sixty  years  of 
age,"  says  one,  **  seamed  with  small-pox,  and 
in  every  seam  the  dust  and  smoke  of  London 
had  left  a  stain.  A  life  of  labour  and  vanished 
children  lay  behind  as  well  as  before  her. 
She  had  a  troubled  eye  and  a  gaze  which 
seemed  to  ask  of  the  universe  why  it  had 
given  birth  to  her."  But  in  her  chapel  she 
received  strength  in  her  heart  to  bear  up.  She 
had  no  power  to  take  the  kingdom  of  Heaven 
by  violence,  but  she  crept  quietly  in.  She  had 
only  a  world  of  gossiping  neighbours  and  of 
little  shops  where  she  bought  the  barest  needs 


THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE  219 

of  her  bare  life,  but  she  was  happy.  She 
knew  her  own  troubles,  but  she  knew  also  that 
help  that  met  them,  and  she  found  it  in  the 
House  of  God.  "  My  house,"  said  Jesus,  "  shall 
be  called  a  house  of  prayer  for  all,"  not  a  house 
of  preaching,  nor  a  house  of  philanthropy,  nor 
a  house  of  amusements,  but  a  house  of  prayer. 
All  men  are  capable  of  prayer,  and  growth  in 
grace  is  a  growth  in  knowledge  of  what  the 
life  of  prayer  may  come  to  be.  "  My  house 
is  a  house  for  all."  This  has  been  the  shame 
and  scandal  of  the  Christian  Church  that  for 
so  long  little  has  been  done  to  welcome, 
much  less  to  seek  out,  those  who  are  not 
found  within  her  walls.  When  we  seek  with 
a  mind  to  bring  in,  when  we  hail  with  gladness 
the  least,  and  the  lowest,  and  the  poorest,  then 
we  may  speak  of  the  Church  as  the  house  of 
Christ,  the  house  of  the  Father.  The  day  is 
coming,  but  we  are  only  at  its  dawn.  How 
good  it  is  when  the  houseless,  wind-beaten, 
rain-wet  nobody  sees  the  Father's  door  open- 
ing and  His  house  receiving  him  to  its  heart ! 
For  multitudes  of  young  people  there  is  no 


220      THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

home,  only  a  place  to  sleep  In.  Then  the 
churches  must  do  special  work.  They  must 
provide  what  the  first  home  should  ordinarily 
provide.  They  should  come  in  to  meet  the 
needs  of  those  for  whom  London  has  the 
aspect  of  ''a  desperate  battlefield  without 
ranks,  without  order,  without  pity,  and  with 
very  little  of  discoverable  purpose."  What 
is  legitimate  in  the  institutional  churches  ? 
Surely  whatever  is  legitimate  at  home.  The 
churches  should  provide  a  place  for  rest,  for 
recreation,  for  the  happy  friendships  which 
may  ripen  into  love,  for  the  meetings  from 
which  sweet  and  pure  homes  will  be  built  in 
the  future.  But  where  there  is  the  first  home, 
these  homes  have  their  claim.  It  is  not  the 
duty  of  ordinary  Christians  to  be  continually 
going  to  church,  whether  for  sermons  or  for 
amusements.  They  should  find  their  happi- 
ness by  their  own  fireside.  There  the  inti- 
macies are  formed  that  grow  into  a  strength 
that  defies  the  world  and  death.  There  the 
consideration,  the  gentleness,  the  unselfishness 
of  the  Christian  character  are  learned  as  they 


THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE  221 

are  learned  nowhere  else.  Life  is  low  down 
and  death  is  at  the  door  when  the  home 
becomes  tedious  and  irksome  to  the  inmates 
— when  they  must  have  some  outlet  every 
night,  or  they  are  unhappy.  Not  even  the 
Church  can  be  suffered  to  be  a  rival  to  the 
home.  But  it  is  the  clear  duty  of  the  Church 
to  be  both  home  and  church  to  those  who  are 
homeless,  homeless  for  all  their  years,  or 
homeless  on  their  way  to  homes. 

I  will  add  that  the  welcome  to  a  church 
should  include  the  welcome  to  all  the  privileges 
of  the  Church,  and  among  the  privileges  I 
mean  the  labour  and  the  sacrifices.  All 
Christians  have  a  yoke  to  bear,  and  they  are 
not  to  be  half-hearted  in  bearing  it.  Our  new 
people  should  be  told  that  there  is  some 
sacrifice  they  may  make,  some  work  they  may 
take  in  hand.  They  should  know  that  it  is 
more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.  In  a 
true  home  every  one,  down  to  the  little  children, 
contributes  a  part  to  the  making  of  the  home. 
In  the  Church  every  one  should  help  in  the 
making    of    the    Church.       That    is    no    true 


222  THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

Christian  Church  where  some  one  part  of  the 
community  subscribes  and  works  for  another. 
There  is  no  true  Church  where  there  is  not 
a  community  of  love  and  labour.  That  com- 
munity is  witnessed  at  the  Lord's  Table,  and 
we  should  never  rest  till  those  who  are  joined 
to  Christ  and  to  one  another  should  be  one 
in  the  closest  and  dearest  bond  of  union. 


Ill 

One  word  on  the  home  above.  When  we 
have  homed  the  people  in  the  earthly  home 
and  in  the  Church,  our  work  is  not  done. 
They  are  to  be  homed  at  last  with  Christ. 

They  tell  us  that  the  desire  for  immortality 
is  ceasing  from  the  world.  It  will  not  cease 
till  men  cease  to  love  Christ,  to  love  one 
another.  Least  of  all,  I  think,  will  it  cease  in 
London,  where,  if  anywhere,  life  feels  like  a 
real  fight.  The  individual  is  so  little  here 
among  the  crowds  that  come  and  go.  He 
vanishes  as  it  seems  like  an  insect  in  the 
summer  sun   and  is  as  little  missed.      '*  What 


THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE  223 


is  London  but  a  vast  graveyard  of  stilled  hopes 
in  which  the  thin  gnat-swarm  of  the  present 
population  dances  its  short  dance  above  the 
daily,  growing,  indisturbable  detritus  of  all  the 
past  at  rest  ? "  Men  in  London  who  are 
fighting  the  battle  bravely  with  a  smile  upon 
their  faces  will  often  wish  themselves  well  out 
of  it,  and  at  peace  for  ever.  How  many  of  us 
have  cravings  that  will  never  be  quiet  though 
we  do  not  speak  of  them — cravings  that  would 
be  intolerable  if  it  were  not  for  our  hope  in 
Christ  ?  The  heart  that  seems  entangled  in 
the  cares  of  this  life  is  often  far  in  the  spiritual 
city  with  Christ  and  with  those  who  have 
gone  before.  One  who  made  full  acquaintance 
with  bereavement  was  asked  if  she  ever  re- 
ceived intimations  of  the  presence  of  those 
who  were  parted  from  her.  She  replied,  '*  I 
sometimes  feel  a  drawing."  Your  own  Bishop 
Simpson  of  America  once  was  preaching  on 
heaven,  and  suddenly  electrified  the  audience 
by  a  cry  of  his  fatherly  heart.  ''Oh,"  said 
he,  ''  what  would  heaven  be  to  me  without  my 
Willie?"      It  is  not  that  the  bereaved  would 


224  THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

have  them  back.  They  will  never  know 
earthly  cares  and  fears.  They  are  "  thrice 
three  times  walled  in  emerald  from  our  mortal 
mornings  grey."  But  we  are  indeed  strangers 
and  pilgrims  on  the  earth,  men  and  women 
for  whom  life  is  full  of  deaths,  little  deaths  and 
great  deaths.  But  what  of  it  if  through  them 
the  summer  land  calls  us  to  its  bosom,  and  if 
Christ  is  waiting  to  receive  us  to  Himself  in 
the  land  where  homes  are  safe. 

If  the  Church  is  to  home  the  people,  many 
must  be  content  to  sacrifice  the  earthly  home, 
and  like  St.  Paul  to  be  '*  lone  on  the  land  and 
homeless  on  the  water."  It  is  told  of  St. 
Francis  Xavier  that  he  was  journeying  once 
from  Rome  with  the  Portuguese  Ambassador 
on  his  way  to  Lisbon,  where  he  was  to  embark 
on  his  missionary  voyage  to  the  Indies.  As 
the  travellers  descended  the  Pyrenees  they 
entered  a  rich  and  fertile  valley,  and  saw 
among  the  trees  the  towers  and  roofs  of  Castle 
Xavier,  the  ancestral  home  of  Francis.  The 
Ambassador  proposed  to  halt  that  the  mis- 
sionary   might    bid     farewell.       "  With     your 


THE  HOMING  OF  THE  PEOPLE  225 

permission,  noble  sir,"  returned  Francis,  "we 
will  pursue  our  journey.  My  home  is  now  in 
the  place  wherever  it  shall  please  our  Lord  to 
call  me.  I  have  given  up  my  earthly  home  to 
Him."  We  have  to  help  those  who  make 
such  sacrifices,  and  to  help  them  generously 
and  cheerfully.  Ye  know  the  grace  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Who  though  He  was 
homed,  yet  for  our  sakes  became  homeless, 
that  we  through  His  homelessness  might  be 
homed. 


THE  BLESSING   OF    PERSECUTION^ 

O   Lord,  by  these  things  men  live,  and  in  all  these  things 
is  the  life  of  my  spirit. — Isaiah  xxxviii.  i6. 

The  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  has 
brought  Free  Churchmen  to  a  new  time  in  the 
good  fight  of  faith  wherein  they  continually 
struggle.  In  England,  many  thousands  of 
Nonconformists  have  appeared  before  the 
magistrates  to  be  treated  as  criminals.  Many 
of  our  most  honoured  Christian  ministers  and 
laymen  have  been  imprisoned  again  and  again. 
In  all  probability  there  are  many  others  to  follow 
them.  They  have  been  put  to  this  suffering 
on  account  of  their  refusal  to  submit  to  a  law 
that  violates  their  conscience,  a  law  which,  by 
the  admission  of  many  who  voted  for  it,  is  not 

^  Conference  sermon  of  the  Methodist  New  Connexion,  June  14th, 
1905,  preached  in  Belgrave  Chapel,  Leeds. 

226 


THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION  zi-j 

just,  and  cannot  last.  From  Wales,  we  have 
continual  tidings  of  revival  and  revolt.  A 
new  spiritual  life  has  awakened  in  the  hills  and 
valleys,  and  at  the  same  time  the  people, 
headed  by  their  legally-appointed  Councils,  are 
resisting,  at  great  cost,  an  attempt  at  coercion 
in  the  name  of  an  alien  Church.  In  Scotland, 
the  United  Free  Church  has  passed  through  a 
year  of  unprecedented  trial — of  trial  which  has 
been  nobly  and  devoutly  borne,  but  which 
will  leave  an  abiding  mark  upon  those  who 
have  suffered  it.  The  sufferers  will  not  claim 
the  honours  of  the  martyrs  who  have  the  more 
glorious  lot  and  the  nearer  and  dearer  place, 
but  they  have  suffered,  and  the  suffering  has 
not  been  confined  to  hard  names,  evil  words, 
and  unkind  sayings.  It  has  meant  for  many 
severe  impoverishment  and  anxiety,  and  such 
pain  may  be  very  real  and  very  hard  to  bear. 
It  is  well  that  we  should  judge  ourselves  very 
humbly,  and  recognise  that  these  things  may 
be  sent,  and  are  sent,  to  remind  us  of  our 
great  unworthiness.  But  we  do  well  to  take 
them  as  tokens  of  God's  especial  love.     We 


228  THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION 

have  been  made  to  realise  that  the  affliction 
which  has  to  be  endured  and  exhausted  by  the 
Church,  has  yet  to  be  filled  up.  It  will  be 
good  for  us  if  life  is  imbued  with  the  feeling 
that  all  they  who  live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus 
must  suffer  persecution,  that  suffering  is  as 
much  our  way  of  bearing  testimony  and 
winning  victory  as  labour  can  ever  be,  and 
that  by  these  things,  by  humiliations,  by 
anxieties,  by  impoverishment,  men  live,  and 
in  these  is  the  life  of  their  spirits. 


I 

Let  me  recall  Christ's  own  anticipation  of 
persecution  and  suffering,  an  anticipation 
fulfilled  in  Himself,  in  His  Apostles,  and  in 
His  Church.  We  hardly  realise  the  wonder 
of  His  first  prophecy.  At  the  very  dawn 
and  outset  of  His  career  He  knew  what 
the  course  and  the  end  would  be.  He  had 
none  of  an  enthusiast's  dreams,  none  of  the 
bright  and  daring  hopes  so  often  quenched  in 
blood.     The  morning  of  His  life  was  red,  and 


THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION  229 

all  the  weather  of  the  day  was  foul,  and  His 
sun  set  as  He  knew  it  would,  in  a  tempest  of 
agony  and  woe.  When  He  opened  His  lips 
on  the  mountain.  He  said,  ''  Blessed  are  they 
which  are  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake, 
for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed 
are  ye,  when  men  shall  revile  you,  and 
persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of 
evil  against  you  falsely,  for  My  sake.  Rejoice, 
and  be  exceeding  glad :  for  great  is  your 
reward  in  heaven  :  for  so  persecuted  they  the 
prophets  which  were  before  you."  The  words 
are  weighted  with  meaning,  and  full  of  immortal 
consolation.  The  beatitude  is  the  highest 
and  most  glorious  of  all  the  blessings.  He 
Himself  proved  it  to  the  uttermost  when,  that 
He  might  make  reconciliation  for  the  sins  of 
His  people.  He  suffered  without  the  gate. 
All  through  the  history  of  His  Church  there 
have  been  the  painful  following,  the  hard 
battle,  the  heroic  death.  Until  the  spiritual 
earth  and  heaven  are  completed  we  shall  have 
them  again. 

It  was  persecution  that  ended  by  degrees 


230  THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION 

the  earthly  life  of  all  the  Apostles.  One  by 
one,  they  filled  up  His  sacrifice  of  weariness, 
crowning  life  by  death.  The  words  of  one  are 
enough :  '*  Thrice  was  I  beaten  with  rods, 
once  was  I  stoned,  thrice  I  suffered  shipwreck, 
a  night  and  a  day  have  I  been  in  the  deep — " 
This  is  among  the  first  pages  of  the  noble  and 
unfinished  catalogue  of  Christian  labours  and 
Christian  suffering.  So  much  did  the  Church 
suffer  at  the  beginning,  that  one  of  the  early 
Christian  poets  represents  the  cities  of  the 
earth,  each  offering  the  Lord  when  He  came  to 
judge  the  world  the  relics  of  the  martyrs  who 
reposed  in  them.  Not  one  city  in  all  the 
habitable  world  failed  of  her  gift.  So  it  has 
been  all  through.  Some  have  gone  home  by 
a  short,  rough  road ;  others  have  toiled  on 
with  bleeding  feet  for  years,  ere  they  reached 
their  last  cross.  In  Japan,  Christianity  was 
literally  killed  out  by  the  killing  of  every 
Christian.  One  form  of  torture  there  was  to 
feed  the  mothers  delicately,  and  to  starve  the 
children.  The  cries  of  their  famished  little 
ones  would,  it  was  hoped,  shake  the  constancy 


THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION  231 

of  the  mothers,  and  lead  them  to  trample  on 
the  Cross.  The  martyrs  have  been  tortured 
on  the  rack  till  every  bone  has  been  dragged 
from  its  place,  and  every  nerve  of  the  body 
has  thrilled  with  agony.  They  have  been 
flung  into  the  dungeon  to  recover  strength, 
and  then  been  taken  through  the  street  loaded 
with  chains  to  the  place  where  they  were 
burned  to  death.  More  dreadful  even  than 
the  public  martyrdoms  have  been  the  cases 
where  the  saints  have  been  put  to  death  in 
secret.  In  the  Low  Countries  the  Baptists 
used  to  be  drowned  alone  and  in  the  darkness, 
in  huge  vats  of  water,  hearing  nothing  but  the 
jests  of  the  murderers  who  had  "given  the 
dipper  his  last  dip."  Even  in  the  form  of 
physical  torture,  martyrdom  continues.  It  is 
not  long  since  Christ  had  His  witnesses  in 
China.  But  in  the  Scripture,  "  others  had  trial 
of  cruel  mockings,"  is  put  beside  the  physical 
outrages,  and  in  one  form  or  another  martyr- 
dom continues,  and  apparently  will  continue. 
We  are  in  the  same  country  which  our  Lord 
passed  through,  and   we   are   fighting   in    His 


232  THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION 

army.  We  mast  have  patience,  not  for  a 
short  time  only,  not  for  a  long  time  only,  but 
to  the  end.  The  opposition  to  truth  and 
freedom  takes  ever  new  forms.  Such  a 
difficulty  rises  up,  such  a  trial  stands  in  the 
way,  such  a  temptation  opposes,  so  we  shall 
have  it  till  the  voice  comes,  **  Ye  have  com- 
passed this  desert  long  enough,"  till  the 
eternal  day  breaks,  the  one  day  known  to  the 
Lord  when  at  eventime  it  shall  be  light. 

Indeed,  it  is  part  of  our  dedication.  Should 
we  be  the  followers  of  Christ  if  we  had  no 
trouble  in  our  following  ?  He  executed  the 
office  of  a  true  prophet,  and  He  warned  us 
well.  *'  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation  : 
but  be  of  good  cheer ;  I  have  overcome  the 
world."  He  foresaw  the  mercilessness  of  His 
foes,  and  He  foresaw  what  was  harder  to  bear, 
the  faithlessness  of  His  disciples,  that  winter 
of  love  when  all  should  forsake  Him  and  flee. 
But  He  recovered  His  wandering  sheep  and 
brought  them  to  the  fold  again.  He  will  keep 
them  there,  but  only  as  they  are  willing  to 
drink    His  cup.     Have   we    not   promised   to 


THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION  233 

follow  Him?  Did  we  not  say,  "Where  Thou 
lodgest  I  will  lodge "  ?  Not  in  the  great 
house  of  splendour,  but  beneath  the  humble 
roof,  or  even  under  the  stars.  Said  I  not, 
**  Where  Thou  diest  I  will  die  "  ?  and  as  Thou 
didst  die  on  the  Cross,  let  me  die  on  mine. 
And  seeing  as  Thou  didst  not  seek  to  be  taken 
down  till  the  evening  of  the  day,  help  me  to 
be  brave  and  patient  till  Thy  word  sets 
me  free. 

II 

The  effect  of  persecution  and  of  accepted 
suffering  is  life.  When  a  great  trial  befell  his 
Church,  it  was  said  of  the  leader  by  many  who 
little  knew,  "This  will  kill  him."  By  these 
things  men  live.  It  might  kill  weaklings,  but 
if  we  are  bound  up  with  Christ,  filled  with  His 
Spirit,  the  trial  of  faith  is  the  minister  and 
stimulant  of  life.  We  know  how  it  is  in  the  daily 
experience.  We  know  how  any  great  initia- 
tion into  sorrow  sobers,  deepens,  strengthens 
every  nature  that  has  in  it  the  germs  of  good. 
There  are  regions  of  thought  and  feeling  which 


234  THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION 

may  not  be  profitably  discussed  by  those  who 
have  not  traversed  them.     Many  and  many  a 
time,  even  natures  that  seem  poor  and  meagre 
are    strangely    enriched    and    ennobled    by    a 
baptism  of  fire.     For  the  Christian,  the  trial 
brings  the  inner  peace  and  power,  and  so  we 
have  the  succession  maintained  in  the  world  of 
men   and  women  who  out   of  weakness  were 
made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to 
filght  the  army  of  the  aliens.     The  soul  that 
seemed   rootless  and  fruitless  has,  again  and 
again,  disclosed  itself  under  trial  as  a  branch 
of  the  True  Vine  that  rejolceth  God  and  man. 
Persecution    has    killed   Churches,  but  hardly 
ever,  I  think,  save  in  cases  where  the  members 
have    actually    been     exterminated.       It    will 
destroy    a    feigned    profession,    but    by    these 
things  the  true,  the  brave,  the  faithful  live — 
as   they   never   live    when    the    sun   went    on 
shining,    and    the    winds    were    soft,    and    the 
world  wore  a  fair  face. 

'*  By  these  things  men  live."  Can  they  go 
on  bearing  these  things  ?  The  hope  of  the 
enemy  is  always  to  "wear  out"  the  saints  of 


THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION  235 

the  Most  High.  Doubtless  there  are  those 
who  fail  under  protracted  fire.  There  are 
times  when  there  is  no  hope  of  exemption  on 
earth,  times  when  long  years  stretch  out 
before  the  Christian  in  which  he  is  to  have  no 
rest,  is  never  to  be  out  of  anxiety  and  strain. 
But  is  it  possible  to  continue  when  that  is  so  ? 
It  is  not  only  possible,  but  it  has  been  done 
by  the  grace  of  Christ  over  and  over  and  over. 
Indeed,  a  great  master  of  the  spiritual  life  has 
said  that  the  bravest  and  wisest  and  tenderest 
of  all  Christians  have  been  those  who  have 
passed  through  such  an  experience.  One 
whose  name  is  ever  mentioned  in  Scotland 
with  peculiar  reverence — Alexander  Peden — 
was  overheard  praying,  near  the  end  of  his 
wonderful  days.  ''Lord,"  he  said,  "Thou 
hast  been  kind  and  good  to  auld  Sandy."  So 
he  measured  the  changing  lights  and  shadows. 
I  almost  shrink  from  using  the  words  of 
St.  Paul,  ''  From  henceforth  let  no  man 
trouble  me,  for  I  bear  in  my  body  the  marks 
of  the  Lord  Jesus."  Yet  he  would  have 
sanctioned  the  use   for  all   Christians  bearing 


236  THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION 

testimony.  They,  too,  have  the  marks  of  the 
Lord  Jesus.  Every  scar  and  wrinkle,  every 
suffering  of  body  and  mind,  every  trace  left  on 
the  countenance  by  loneliness,  anxiety,  dis- 
appointment, drudgery,  endured  for  Christ  is 
a  mark  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  What  marks 
St.  Paul  bore  we  cannot  tell.  We  only  know 
that  they  were  legible  in  him,  as  they  are 
not  legible  in  many  Christians  of  these  days. 
"  Whose  I  am  and  Whom  I  serve."  Yes,  the 
Lord  best  knew  how  His  apostle  served  Him 
through  imprisonment,  mockery,  peril,  hunger, 
and  thirst  and  nakedness,  through  the  care  of 
all  the  churches.  This  merciful  Lord  called 
him  to  serve  Him  finally  and  more  illustriously. 
"  Thou  must  be  brought  before  Caesar."  So 
the  old  man  was  led  along  the  Ostian  way  to 
die.  It  was  not  wonderful  or  strange  to  Paul, 
for  he  had  been  taught  at  the  beginning  how 
great  things  he  must  suffer  for  Christ's  Name's 
sake.  Did  he  ever  flinch  '^  When  he  said, 
*'  From  henceforth  let  no  man  trouble  me," 
did  he  claim  an  exemption  from  pain  .f^  He 
had  a  good  right,  if  any  one  ever  had  a  right, 


THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION  lyj 

but  he  was  the  last  to  use  it.  When  he  said, 
**  Let  no  man  trouble  me,"  he  did  not  mean  to 
be  freed  from  his  cross.  He  was  not  weary,  or 
half-hearted,  or  in  quest  of  a  quiet  life.  He 
was  the  last  to  seek  to  be  taken  down  before 
evening,  or  to  pause  in  the  middle  of  his  race. 
When  he  said,  "  Let  no  man  trouble  me,"  he 
was  speaking  to  those  who  meant  to  be  his 
friends,  to  those  who  wished  him  not  to  go 
up  to  Jerusalem.  All  persuasions,  entreaties, 
tendernesses  which  would  hinder  him,  he 
wished  to  be  done  with.  **  What  mean  ye  to 
weep  and  to  break  mine  heart }  "  "•  The  Holy 
Ghost  witnesseth  in  every  city,  that  bonds 
and  afflictions  abide  me."  And  so  he  pleaded 
with  them  to  loose  him,  and  let  him  go.  This 
was  a  nature  covetous  of  the  great  things  his 
Lord  had  appointed  him  to  endure.  He  had 
suffered  enough  for  one,  but  he  was  not  con- 
tent.    By  these  things  men  live. 

"■  In  all  these  things  is  the  life  of  my  spirit  : 
so  wilt  thou  recover  me  and  make  me  to  live." 
The  outward  man  may  perish  ;  St.  Paul's  body 
was  frailer  and  feebler  with  every  passing  day. 


238  THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION 

It  was  sinking  to  its  fall,  but  the  life  of  the 
spirit  was  waxing  and  blazing.  There  may 
come  sometimes  a  dark  gloom,  a  period  of 
obscuration,  when  the  bravest  is  weary,  almost 
inclined  to  give  up,  disposed  to  take  an  easier 
way.  But  the  life  that  seems  dead  and  buried 
for  the  hour,  as  the  Lord  Himself  in  the  grave 
of  Joseph  of  Arimathaea,  shall  rise  again  at  the 
words,  ''  O  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst 
thou  doubt  ?  " 

By  these  things  men  live.  They  are 
brought  into  a  true  fellowship.  If  we  are  true 
friends,  we  are  united  more  closely  to  those 
friends  who  have  been  treated  with  cruelty 
and  injustice.  We  cling  to  them  more  fondly 
and  tenderly  than  ever.  Zebulun  and  Naphtali 
were  a  people  that  jeopardised  their  lives  unto 
the  death  in  the  high  places  of  the  field.  Not 
peoples,  though  they  were  once  distinct ;  they 
were  one  people  joined  in  one  grand  and  noble 
struggle,  and  therefore  in  one  unbreakable 
communion. 


THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION  239 


III 

The  lessons  are  very  simple,  but  they  go 
very  deep.  Trials  borne  for  Christ  bring  us 
to  the  heart  of  Christ.  The  nearer  we  are  to 
Him,  the  more  calmly  we  shall  look  on  the 
sunshine  and  the  shadow  too.  It  is  His 
sunshine,  and  it  is  His  shadow.  Joined  to 
Him  we  shall  arm  ourselves  with  the  same 
mind,  and  pray  for  those  who  have  wronged  us 
or  are  wronging  us.  If  they  refuse  to  own  us 
or  receive  us,  let  us  hope  for  the  time  when 
the  clouds  will  pass,  and  for  the  day  of  Chirst, 
when  all  the  flock  will  be  gathered  in  the  fold 
upon  the  everlasting  hills.  Let  us  pray  that 
God  will  protect  us  and  preserve  us  in  what- 
ever he  has  appointed  of  joy  and  of  sorrow. 
Every  time  of  trial  is  a  time  when  the  New 
Country  becomes  very  near.  We  shall  soon 
pass  from  the  Church  militant  to  watch  from 
the  eternal  shore  the  tempest-tossed  servants 
of  our  Master  making  for  the  haven,  troubled 
on  every  side,  but  not  distressed ;    perplexed, 


240  THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION 

but  not  in  despair ;  persecuted,  but  not  for- 
saken ;  cast  down,  but  not  destroyed.  The 
extraordinary  vividness  and  certainty  with 
which  the  eternal  world  has  been  apprehended 
in  times  of  persecution  must  strike  every  one 
who  has  studied  the  annals  of  the  martyrs. 
By  bearing  pain  and  loss  in  the  Christian 
way,  we  shall  persuade  men.  *'  It  shall  turn 
unto  you  for  a  testimony,"  said  our  Lord 
Himself.  The  faithfulness  unto  death  of 
Christ's  witnesses  has  done  more,  perhaps, 
even  than  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel, 
to  persuade  the  world  that  Christ  lives  and 
reigns. 

By  emphasising  the  heroic  side  of  Chris- 
tianity we  shall  win  and  keep  our  children. 
The  fidelity  to  brave  and  loyal  ancestors  is  a 
religion  in  itself—  a  religion  that  is  working 
wonders  in  the  world  to-day.  The  faith  and 
courage  of  our  fathers  did  much  to  persuade 
their  sons. 

O  the  way  sometimes  is  low, 

And  the  waters  dark  and  deep, 
And  I  stumble  as  I  go. 


THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION  241 

But  I  have  a  tryst  to  keep  : 
It  was  plighted  long  ago 
With  some  who  lie  asleep. 

And  though  days  go  dragging  slow, 

And  the  sad  hours  gravewards  creep, 
And  the  world  is  hushed  in  woe, 

I  neither  wail  nor  weep. 

For  He  would  not  have  it  so, 
And  I  have  a  tryst  to  keep. 

"  Lovest  thou  Me  ?  "  The  old  question  is 
repeated  keenly,  sharply,  persuadingly.  The 
root  is  love.  Though  faith  may  be  clouded  and 
hope  may  be  feeble,  love  lives  on.  We  have 
never  been  left  in  any  doubt  as  to  the  justice 
of  our  cause.  We  have  never  needed  even  to 
talk  it  over.  "  Immediately  I  conferred  not 
with  flesh  and  blood."  The  road  of  righteous- 
ness is  as  straight  as  a  rule  can  make  it.  We 
are  fighting,  thank  God,  not  about  trifles,  but 
about  the  inalienable  rights  of  Christians  and 
of  Christian  Churches.  We  have  no  fear  of 
the  issue.  The  Free  Churches  shall  not  die, 
but  live  and  declare   the  works   of  the    Lord. 


242  THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION 

Will  you  stand  fast  ?  Will  you  carry  your 
burden  true-heartedly,  simply,  steadily  ?  Will 
you  say,  Whoever  desires  to  be  taken  down  from 
the  Cross,  whoever  desires  to  rest  before  the 
battle  is  over,  so  by  God's  grace  not  I  ?  If  so, 
you  will  gather  strength  from  falls,  and 
resolution  from  defeats,  and  hasten  the  time 
when  your  dedication  to  Christ  shall  be  without 
let  or  hindrance.  We  have  our  appeal  more 
cogent,  more  winning  than  ever  it  was  to 
those  outside,  and  especially  to  the  young. 
We  are  not  asking  you  to  join  the  rich, 
the  fashionable,  the  privileged.  We  are 
asking  you  to  help  those  who,  amid  many 
hardships,  difficulties,  and  preplexities,  are 
seeking  to  fight  the  good  fight  of  faith, 
and  to  endure  as  seeing  Him  who  is  in- 
visible. Will  you  join  us  .^  Will  you  help 
us  in  this  great  hour  .'^ 

Couldst  thou  love  Me  when  friends  are  failing, 

Because  fast  paling 

Thy  fortunes  flee  ? 
Couldst  thou  prevent  thy  lips  from  waihng, 
And  say,  "  I  still  have  Thee  "  ? 


THE  BLESSING  OF  PERSECUTION  243 

Couldst  thou  love  Me  when  wealth  is  flying, 

The  night-blast  sighing 

Through  life's  proud  tree  ? 
Couldst  thou  withhold  thy  heart  from  dying, 
And  find  its  life  in  Me  ? 

Couldst  thou  love  Me  when  creeds  are  breaking, 

Old  landmarks  shaking 

With  wind  and  sea? 
Couldst  thou  restrain  the  earth  from  quaking, 
And  rest  thy  heart  in  Me  ? 

Couldst  thou  love  Me  when  storms  are  roaring, 

Their  torrents  pouring 

O'er  mart  and  lea  ? 
Couldst  thou  on  larger  wings  be  soaring, 
And  hear  all  calm  in  Me  ? 

Couldst  thou  love  Me  when  death  is  nearing, 
A  mist  appearing 
In  all  but  Me  ? 
If  then  thy  heart  cast  out  its  fearing, 
Thy  love  shall  perfect  be. 


THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE> 

God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life. — John  iii.  i6. 

There  are  many,  I  am  well  aware,  who  view 
with  secret  misgivings  the  opening  of  new 
places  of  worship.  Says  one,  ''  Religion  has 
changed — advanced  or  receded,  as  you  will — 
like  everything  else.  The  creed  in  our  day 
was  simple  and  severe.  To  us  right  or  wrong 
meant  heaven  or  hell,  neither  more  nor  less. 
Now  what  is  Christianity  ?  Who  can  show 
us?"  It  is  even  affirmed  that  Christianity 
is  a  wreck,  that  the  foundations  of  the  old 
temples  of  truth  and  peace  have  been  under- 
mined,  and   that  buildings  like  these  are  the 

^  Sermon  preached  at  the  opening  of  the  North  United  Free  Church, 
Aberdeen,  August  1905. 

244 


THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE  245 

futile    monuments    of  a   glorious   but   tragical 
delusion. 

Now  we  are  not  concerned  to  deny  the 
immense  advance  in  thought  and  knowledge, 
the  ceaseless  floods  of  sunlight  that  have 
poured  into  every  region  where  the  human 
mind  energises.  We  have  asserted  in  this 
Church,  and  at  great  cost,  the  right  and  the 
duty  of  every  Christian  Church  to  follow  the 
leadings  of  the  Spirit ;  but  our  Gospel  remains 
unaffected.  We  can  preach  it,  if  that  were 
possible,  more  fully  than  our  fathers  could. 
That  Gospel  is  no  other  than  my  text :  ''  God 
so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on 
Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life."  In  expounding  it  I  shall  adopt  the 
divisions  of  a  celebrated  preacher.  We  have 
here  (i)  the  Lake;  (2)  the  River;  (3)  the 
Pitcher ;  (4)  the  Draught.  The  Lake — God 
so  loved  the  world ;  the  River — that  He  gave 
His  only  begotten  Son ;  the  Pitcher — that 
whosoever  believeth  on  Him;  the  Draught — 
should  have  everlasting  life. 


246  THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE 

I 

The  Lake  is  the  Love  of  God.  *'  God  so 
loved  the  world."  It  is  not  too  much  to  say- 
Christians  have  shrunk  from  the  full  force  of 
this  great  word.  They  have  even  interpreted 
the  words  to  mean  the  elect  sinners  of  the 
world.  Where  they  have  not  gone  so  far  as 
that,  they  have  stopped  short  of  the  clarion 
proclamation.  The  words  ''  God  is  love  "  are 
not  to  be  found  in  our  Catechism  or  in  our 
Confession.  They  do  not  occur,  so  far  as  I 
remember,  in  any  of  the  Confessions  of  the 
Reformed  Church.  No  matter.  We  go  back 
to  the  supreme  standard,  the  Word  of  God, 
and  we  find  the  mystery  there.  God  loves 
the  world  and  each  soul  in  the  world.  The 
love  of  the  mass  is  the  love  of  the  individual. 
Each  single  soul  is  beloved  as  if  there  were 
no  other.  There  is  no  limitation.  God  loves 
each  soul  of  our  fallen  family.  The  worst  and 
the  most  forgotten  is  strained  to  His  bosom. 
Is  it  an  easy  thing  to  say?  Nobody  said  it 
till  Christ  said  it.     Even  after  Christ  said   it 


THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE  2^7 

many  of  His  most  faithful  servants  have  feared 
to  repeat  it.  I  shall  never  forget  how  Pro- 
fessor Elmslie,  in  the  brief  delirium  before 
death,  when  his  mind  was  wandering,  came 
back  over  and  over  again  to  "  God  is 
Love,  God  is  Love  ;  I  will  go  out  and 
tell  this  to  all  the  world.  They  do  not 
know  it." 

Yet  the  lips  of  the  most  faithful  must 
tremble  sometimes  as  they  repeat  it.  The 
sorrows  of  the  world  seem  to  rise  up  and 
silence  them.  Can  we  trace  the  love  in  the 
agony  of  human  life  ?  The  burden  and  the 
weary  weight  of  all  this  unintelligible  world 
are  too  much  for  us  all  at  times. 

Nature,  red  in  tooth  and  claw 

With  ravine,  shrieks  against  the  creed. 

The  hideous  sense  of  wrong,  of  sin  and  sorrow, 
of  vice  and  crime,  mars  the  scene  wherever  we 
turn.  Think  of  the  sorrow  of  the  world.  The 
child  was  meant  to  be  happy,  and  it  seems  at 
first  as  if  exquisite  and  perfect  provision  were 
made  for  that  happiness,  and  there  is  no  sadder 


248  THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE 

thing  than  to  watch  and  to  behold  how  the 
llght-heartedness  of  youth  Is  gradually  over- 
come. Moth  and  rust  corrupt,  thieves  break 
through  and  steal,  temptations  arise  and 
shake  and  overthrow.  We  guard  our  poor 
citadel  as  well  as  we  may,  but  the  assault 
comes  from  the  unexpected  quarter  and  over- 
whelms us.  No  progress,  no  discovery,  will 
lighten  the  load  or  lessen  the  pain.  There 
are  evils  that  may  be  avoided,  but  so  long  as 
death  and  sin  remain,  the  woe  must  remain, 
and  doubtless  as  the  world  grows  older  men 
grow  more  sensitive  ;  the  pang  is  keener,  the 
wound  is  deeper,  and  heals  more  slowly.  And 
what  shall  we  say  to  the  wrongs  of  the  world, 
the  defeats  of  good,  the  triumphs  of  evil  ? 
The  righteous  perish,  and  that  is  hard ;  but 
no  man  layeth  it  to  heart — that  is  harder  still. 
The  dark  enigmas  and  incomprehensible 
anomalies  of  existence  make  us  pause  and 
fear. 

Then  we  say,  ''Can  God  love  us,  so  direly 
defeatured  by  sin  as  we  are  ? "  So  gentle 
a   Christian  poet  as  Keble  tells  us  that  even 


THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE  249 

the  hearts  of  the  saints  cannot  bear  mortal 
scrutiny. 

Then  keep  the  softening  veil  in  mercy  drawn, 
Thou  who  canst  love  us,  tho'  Thou  read  us  true. 

Can  it  be  that  God  loves  Nero,  that  He  loves 
Judas  ?  Can  it  be  that  God  cares  for  saints 
and  martyrs,  whom  He  abandons  to  defeat  and 
agony  and  death  ?  One  thinks  of  St.  Bernard's 
question,  when,  absorbed  in  meditation,  he 
rode  by  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  and  said  at 
evening,  "Has  anybody  seen  the  lake  .^^ " 
We  have  to  answer,  "  No  man  hath  seen  the 
lake  at  any  time,"  and  yet  we  know  that 
God's  awful  attributes 

All  are  but  ministers  of  Love, 
And  feed  his  sacred  flame. 


II 

For  there  is  a  River  that  makes  glad  the 
city  of  God.  We  know  of  the  lake  because 
we  know  of  the  river.  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son. 
The  course  of  true  love  never  did  run  smooth, 


250  THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE 

and  the  course  of  the  divine  love  ran  rough 
indeed.  We  do  not  preach  that  an  easy  way 
has  been  thrown  open,  and  that  now  the  gate 
is  no  longer  strait  and  the  road  no  longer 
narrow.  No,  God  so  loved  that  W^  gave.  It 
is  not  merely  that  He  sent  His  Son  :  He  did 
much  more.  He  gave  His  Son,  and  as  the 
apostle  more  fully  expresses  it,  ''  He  delivered 
Him  up  to  the  death  for  us  all."  That  was 
the  course  of  the  Divine  love.  The  love  of 
the  Father  is  the  source  of  the  Atonement. 
He  gave  in  love.  It  is  most  true  that  the 
Lord  gave  Himself  in  love.  Isaac  was  led  to 
the  sacrifice  willing  and  blind,  Christ  went  to 
His  Cross  willing  and  open-eyed.  "  Sacrifice 
and  offering  thou  wouldest  not,  but  a  body 
hast  thou  prepared  Me,"  a  body  to  be  scourged, 
tortured,  crucified.  *'  Lo,  I  come  :  in  the 
volume  of  the  book  it  is  written  of  me.  I 
delight  to  do  Thy  will,  O  my  God."  When 
men  think  that  they  get  rid  of  the  old  and 
severe  theology  when  they  teach  in  a  false 
sense  that  God  is  Love,  they  are  rebuked  by 
this  text.     We  do  not  become   mawkish   and 


THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE  251 

sentimental  because  we  preach  the  love  of 
God ;  life  and  salvation  will  even  more  be 
solemn  and  sin  more  dreadful  as  we  follow  the 
course  of  the  Divine  love. 

When  we  are  asked,  as  we  have  been  asked 
in  Robert  Elsmere,  and  in  much  literature  that 
has  preceded  and  followed  it,  why  we  do  not 
get  rid  of  the  sternness  and  awfulness  of 
religion  and  rest  content  simply  with  preaching 
the  Fatherhood  of  God,  our  answer  is  plain. 
The  one  proof  of  God's  love  that  will  ever 
convince  the  world  is  the  Cross  of  Christ. 
Said  the  great  German,  "  If  I  were  God,  the 
sorrows  of  the  world  would  break  my  heart." 
He  knew  not  what  he  said.  The  sorrows  of 
the  world  did  break  the  Heart  of  hearts. 
Surely  He  hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried 
our  sorrows,  even  unto  blood,  even  unto 
broken -heartedness.  Why  do  you  not  say 
that  God  is  Father  and  that  all  is  to  be  well, 
and  leave  the  Christ  out  ?  Why  do  you  not 
read  the  text,  **  God  so  loved  the  world,  that 
He  gave  to  every  one  everlasting  life  "  .^  If 
any  one  proclaims  that  God  is  love,  upon  what 


252  THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE 

facts  is  he  to  rest  his  arguments  ?  Does  he 
find  the  love  of  God  in  the  mass  of  misery  and 
vice  in  which  the  world  around  is  weltering  ? 
Belief  in  the  love  of  God  has  been  maintained 
and  propagated  in  the  shadow  of  the  Cross, 
and  only  there.  Apart  from  that,  where  is 
the  proof  that  God  is  a  Father  and  not  merely 
a  force  ?  In  the  Old  Testament  they  did  not 
know  it,  though  there  are  passages  that  dimly 
shadow  it.  Christ  came  in  time.  The  heart 
of  the  world  was  failing.  Martyr  after  martyr, 
prophet  after  prophet  had  died  without  a  token. 
He  came  to  change  the  cross  into  a  throne, 
and  the  shroud  into  a  robe,  and  death  into 
a  sleep,  and  defeat  into  everlasting  triumph. 


Ill 

All  this  love  may  run  in  full  flood  past  our 
door  and  never  reach  us,  unless  we  take  the 
pitcher  —  "Whosoever  believeth  on  Him." 
We  all  know  what  it  is  to  trust  and  to  be 
deceived.  It  is  natural  to  trust,  and  we  go 
on  believing  till  we  are  surrounded  by  defaced 


THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE  253 

and  abolished  idols.  Human  stays  may  fail 
us,  but  there  is  a  moment  when  we  give 
ourselves  to  the  Divine.  To  trust  Christ  is 
not  merely  to  believe  with  the  intellect  the 
truth  about  Him,  but  to  commit  our  hearts 
to  His  keeping.  What  all  that  is  going  to 
mean  we  can  never  know  at  first,  but  I  believe 
there  is  in  the  life  of  every  Christian  one 
moment  which  may  or  may  not  be  remembered 
when  the  turn  is  taken.  In  the  life  of  every 
one  who  has  really  tried  to  make  a  high  use 
of  the  years,  there  is  always  a  point  where  the 
road  ceases  to  descend  and  begins  to  climb 
upward.  What  has  happened  .^  Perhaps  some 
fervent  and  rousing  word  has  been  carried 
home  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  There  has  been 
a  bereavement — perhaps  some  one  has  died 
who  is  so  cruelly  missed  that  the  rest  of  life 
seems  dark  and  cold  as  the  later  hours  of  a 
winter  day.  There  has  been  a  disappointment, 
perhaps,  in  something  on  which  the  heart  has 
been  fixed,  and  for  consolation  it  has  turned 
to  the  Refuge  and  the  Lover  of  souls.  To 
one  who  sat  dreaming  in  her  garden,  repeating 


254  THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE 

the  old  enigmas,  ''Was  He?  Was  He  not? 
If  He  was  not,  from  whence  came  I  ?  If  He 
is,  what  am  I,  and  what  am  I  doing  with  my 
Hfe  ? "  a  voice  seemed  to  speak.  The  voice 
spoke  and  said,  '*  Act  as  if  I  were,  and  thou 
shalt  know  I  Am ! "  She  obeyed,  and  soon 
He  revealed  Himself.  In  this  way  and  that 
is  the  story  told,  is  the  experience  passed 
through,  but  in  essence  it  is  always  the  same. 
It  is  a  committal  for  time  and  for  eternity,  for 
life  and  for  death,  to  the  Lord  of  all  worlds. 
Then  is  the  channel  opened  between  the  poor, 
narrow,  needy  life  and  the  great  lake  of  love. 
Then  the  Divine  Lover  has  His  way  with 
the  soul. 

IV 

*'  Should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life!' 
That  dark  word  "  perish  "  is  significant  indeed. 
The  tendency  of  all  life,  apart  from  the  Divine 
connection  and  renewal,  is  towards  decay  and 
death.  That,  we  know,  is  true  in  the  natural 
sphere,  and  whenever  we  begin  to  think  we 
see  it  to  be  true  in  the  spiritual.     Leave  the 


THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE  255 

Bible  out  of  account  if  you  will,  you  never  do 
away  with  the  great  and  sombre  reality  of 
retribution.  Its  reality  presses  more  and 
more  hardly  upon  the  modern  mind,  even 
when  that  mind  is  in  revolt  against  Chris- 
tianity. Blot  out  the  word  "hell"  from 
Scripture  and  you  do  not  blot  it  out  of  the 
world.  The  fires  of  hell  are  burning  all 
around  us.  There  are  men  and  women  here 
to-night  who  would  give  all  they  possess  very 
gladly,  if  they  could  lay  their  hands  upon  one 
hour  of  madness  and  pluck  it  from  the  past. 
There  is  no  power  to  enable  us  to  drown  the 
reality  of  the  wretchedness  that  is  among  us 
and  about  us,  oppressing  and  maiming  and 
marring  existence.  Perishing  in  its  more 
obvious  and  terrible  forms  we  have  all  seen. 
We  have  seen  bright  young  lives  clouded, 
over- darkened,  devastated,  destroyed.  But 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  perishing  respectably, 
and  that  is  far  more  common.  A  man  may 
succeed  in  life,  and  attain  his  low  ambitions, 
and  pass  well  among  his  fellow-townsmen,  and 
yet  when  you  contemplate  him  you  know  that 


256  THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE 

he  has  perished,  that  his  ideals  are  gone,  that 
there  is  now  no  longer  any  communication 
between  him  and  his  Maker,  that  his  soul  is 
gone  out  of  him.  They  are  more  who  perish 
in  silk  and  broadcloth  than  they  who  perish  in 
rags.  A  nation  may  have  a  period  of  great 
triumph  and  external  wealth,  and  yet  if  it  has 
in  its  heart  the  cancer  of  lust,  it  has  perished, 
and  the  outward  will  one  day  correspond  v/ith 
the  inward,  and  the  judgment  of  God  be  made 
visible.  What  is  to  rescue  from  perishing  ? 
What  is  to  keep  the  fires  alive — the  loftiness, 
the  unworldliness,  the  willingness  to  die,  the 
aspirations  after  purity,  truth,  goodness  ? 
Whosoever  believeth  on  Hitn  shall  not  perish, 
but — it  goes  on  to  say — have  everlasting  life. 

It  is  life  which  is  the  Draught  from  the 
river  of  love,  which,  as  we  know,  is  untouched 
by  death.  Our  Lord  Himself  worked  out  His 
promise  when  He  died  for  us  and  rose  again. 
We  know  now  that  the  solemn  fact  of  death 
does  not  break  the  continuity  of  the  redeemed 
existence.  Since  the  Lord  of  Life  lay  in  the 
grave  and  rose  again,  the  grave  has  been  but 


THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE  257 

the  resting-place  of  the  bodies  that  are  still 
united  to  Him.  But  I  think,  as  the  years  go 
on,  that  we  do  not  look  upon  physical  death  as 
the  great  antagonist  in  life.  There  are  worse 
enemies  than  that.  There  are  the  temptations 
within  and  the  temptations  without.  We  are 
almost  torn  to  pieces  by  the  external  and 
internal  struggle :  boiling  passion,  urgent 
appetite,  wild  ambition,  assail  and  hurt  the 
soul,  and  the  fear  is  that  often  all  the  life  may 
be  quenched.  But  the  moment  we  believe, 
we  are  made  children  of  the  resurrection,  and 
there  is  given  to  us  that  life  which  neither  the 
world  nor  grief  can  quench.  After  years  and 
years  we  can  say,  "  Blessed  be  God,  that 
though  the  lamp  has  flickered  a  thousand 
times,  it  has  not  gone  out."  We  have  had 
our  share,  we  say,  and  sometimes  it  seems 
almost  more  than  our  share,  of  the  vicissitudes 
of  existence.  Change  and  decay  in  all  around 
we  see.  ''  Passing  away,  saith  the  world, 
passing  away."  But  if  we  are  in  Christ  there 
is  something  within  us  that  has  lived,  that 
lives,  and  that  will  live.     Of  that  life  we  shall 


258  THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE 

never  ask  whether  it  is  worth  living.  The  life 
of  nature,  the  earthly  life,  the  life  that  is  so 
heavily  weighted  with  sorrow  and  crushed 
with  care,  may  come  to  be  held  very  lightly. 
It  shrinks,  dwindles,  draws  itself  within  meaner 
lines  every  day.  Many  of  us  weary  of  it  long 
before  it  ends.  Others  feel,  with  the  American 
poet — 

How  many  times  have  I  lain  down  at  night 

And  longed  to  fall  into  that  gulf  of  sleep, 

Whose  dreamless  deep 

Is  haunted  by  no  memory  of 

The  weary  world  above  : 

And  thought  myself  most  miserable  that  I 

Must  impotently  lie 

So  long  upon  the  brink 

Without  the  power  to  sink 

Into  that  nothingness,  and  neither  feel  nor  think  ! 

How  many  times,  when  day  brought  back  the  light 

After  the  merciful  oblivion 

Of  such  unbroken  slumber, 

And  once  again  began  to  cumber 

My  soul  with  her  forgotten  cares  and  sorrows. 

And  show  in  long  perspective  the  gray  morrows, 

Stretching  monotonously  on, 

Forever  narrowing,  but  never  done, 


THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE  259 

Have  I  not  loathed  to  live  again,  and  said 
It  would  have  been  far  better  to  be  dead, 
And  yet,  somehow,  I  know  not  why, 
Remained  afraid  to  die  ! 

We  may  have  lived  in  war  with  the  world, 
the  flesh,  and  the  devil ;  we  may  have  been 
feeble,  faithless,  half-hearted,  and  cowardly. 
Relapse  may  have  succeeded  relapse,  till 
mercy  would  have  been  wearied  out,  if  mercy 
were  a  human  thing.  Yet  somehow,  through 
grace,  we  have  not  turned  back,  and  however 
distant,  halting,  covered  with  the  mire  of  in- 
numerable falls,  we  are  still  trying  to  do  the 
will  of  God,  we  are  seeking  the  way  to  Zion 
with  our  faces  thitherward.  If  this  is  so,  then 
this  trembling  flame,  which  is  still  alight, 
which  has  burned  on  through  the  temptations 
of  time,  will  be  steady  and  enduring  in  that 
kingdom  where  nothing  that  enters  can  ever 
die. 

"  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth 
on  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  ever- 
lasting life."     How  is  it  with  thee,  my  brother, 


26o  THE  COURSE  OF  TRUE  LOVE 


and  with  thee,  my  sister  ?  He  has  sent  me 
to-night  to  declare  to  thee  His  Gospel,  to  offer 
to  thee  here  and  now  His  Son  and  that  life. 
His  Word  is  gone  forth  to  the  end  of  the  earth, 
and  has  reached  even  to  thyself.  "  Stoop 
down,  and  drink,  and  live."  Why  should 
we  not,  every  one  of  us,  have  and  hold  and 
cherish  and  keep  that  Eternal  Life  ? 


ASPECTS    OF    THE    MYSTICAL 
UNION  1 

We  are  members  of  His  body,  of  His   flesh,  and  of  His 
bones. — Ephesians  v.  30. 

The  depth  and  intimacy  of  the  mystical  union 
between  our  Lord  and  His  believers  are  no- 
where more  boldly  expressed  than  in  the 
words  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  "We 
are  members  of  His  body,  of  His  flesh,  and  of 
His  bones." 

There  is  a  kind  of  Christianity  which  has 
been  popular  in  recent  years.  It  teaches  that 
we  are  Christians  in  so  far  as  we  imitate  the 
outward  life  of  Christ,  the  Man  of  Nazareth. 
Its  test  is  the  question,  "  What  would  Jesus 
do?"      If  we  ask  that  question  and  answer  it, 

^  Address  to  the  National  Free  Churcli  Council  in  the  Central  Hall, 
Birmingham,  on  March  8,  1906. 

261 


262        ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION 

and  carry  the  answer  into  action,  then,  it  is 
said,  we  are  Christians.  Be  it  far  from  us 
to  depreciate  the  value  of  such"  a  test.  To 
summon  before  our  minds  in  moments  of  dis- 
traction, perplexity,  and  pain  the  pure,  calm, 
heroic  image  of  Jesus  is  often  a  remedy 
sovereign  in  its  efficacy.  But  such  an  imi- 
tation can  by  no  means  cover  the  whole  of 
life,  nor  solve  its  deepest  mysteries.  Our 
Lord  spent  His  few  years  on  earth  in  very 
narrow  circumstances,  in  a  simple  society  not 
reached  by  the  problems  that  confront  and 
vex  us  now.  From  the  months,  for  the  time 
is  to  be  reckoned  by  months,  of  His  public 
life,  He  passed  by  the  Resurrection  and  the 
Ascension  to  the  Eternal  Throne.  His  man- 
hood has  been  taken  up  into  God,  and  He  is 
now  Incarnate  and  Supreme.  It  is  this  Christ 
of  the  exaltation  to  Whom  the  faithful  are 
joined  in  a  living,  loving,  lasting  union.  It 
is  not  with  the  Man  of  Nazareth,  but  with  the 
reigning  Redeemer  that  they  are  one.  As 
regards  the  Christ  of  Palestine,  there  are  many 
questions  we  may  put   and   fail   to  obtain   an 


ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION        263 

answer.  Did  He  care  for  poetry,  for  art,  for 
literature,  for  the  splendours  and  discoveries 
of  the  imagination  ?  We  can  hardly  tell.  We 
know  that  He  loved  the  glory  of  the  lilies  in 
the  Syrian  fields,  and  watched  the  red  of  even- 
ing burn  upon  the  Mediterranean  wave.  But 
we  know  also  that  He  was  absorbed  in  the 
thought  that  His  brief,  rough  passage  through 
earth  was  constantly  bringing  Him  nearer  the 
Cross,  where  He  was  to  give  His  life  as  a 
ransom  for  many.  Did  He  enter  into  the 
problems  of  political  economy,  of  civic  rights, 
of  social  wellbeing  ?  It  is  very  difficult  to 
say  that  He  did.  The  processes  by  which 
His  words  have  been  racked  to  favour  this 
side  and  that  in  politics  and  in  sociology  have 
proved  fruitless.  He  left  outside  all  such 
questions ;  He  left  much  on  one  side  ;  He 
confined  Himself  to  the  work  which  the 
Father  gave  Him  to  do;  He  kept  Himself 
sinless  that  He  might  offer  that  sacrifice  of 
substitution  for  the  guilty  with  which  the 
Father  is  well  pleased.  He  found  a  simple 
and  oppressed  society,  and  He  pointed  a  path 


264        ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION 

out  of  the  oppression,  not  by  political  changes, 
but  by  the  direct  approach  of  the  weary  to  His 
own  compassionate  and  rest-giving  heart. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  we  turn  to  Him 
as  Very  God  of  Very  God,  the  life  within  the 
life  revealing  Himself  in  many  ways,  all  is 
different.  It  is  to  Him  thus  revealed  that 
trusting  hearts  are  wedded,  and  He  can  solve 
all  their  problems,  and  lift  the  burden  of  all 
their  sad  need.  From  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting He  recognises  and  inspires  all  that  is 
lovely  and  excellent  and  useful  in  the  minds 
of  men.  The  lasting  triumphs  of  imagination, 
the  hard-won  successes  of  reason,  the  long 
labour  of  science,  all  are  dear  to  Him,  for  they 
are  merely  approaches  to  the  Eternal  Reason, 
the  Eternal  Imagination.  So  then  the  business 
of  the  Christian  is  not  the  bare,  outward  imi- 
tation of  His  earthly  years  in  Palestine,  nor 
the  simple  following  of  the  first  disciples  who 
set  their  feet  in  His  lonely  track.  It  is  union 
with  the  enthroned  Saviour,  God-Man,  that  is 
the  goal  of  the  Christian  life. 

Though  many  who  use  the  phrase  employ 


ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION        265 

it  without  evil  intention,  yet  certainly  we  are 
to  condemn  the  counsel,  ''  Be  Christs."  There 
is  only  one  ^Christ ;  there  is  one  Mediator 
between  God  and  man,  the  Man  Christ  Jesus. 
There  is  one  Head  crowned  and  anointed,  and 
only  one.  For  the  rest,  it  is  sufficient  that 
they  should  be  Christians — sharing  in  the  bene- 
fits of  His  life,  His  death,  and  His  resur- 
rection-triumph. We  can  indeed  say  of  Him 
most  surely  that  He  walked  in  Palestine 
more  unerringly  than  Plato,  or  Confucius, 
or  any  great  teacher  of  the  world,  in  the 
sphere  appointed  him.  It  was  He  and  He 
alone  Who  never  swerved  even  for  a  moment 
from  the  straight  paths  of  righteousness  and 
love.  But  we  want  to  do  more  than  to  follow 
Him  in  these  ways.  We  have  to  set  our  feet 
in  paths  He  never  trod,  and  we  want  the 
strength  that  is  to  keep  us  true.  Assuredly, 
Christianity  is  the  manifestation  of  the  life  that 
is  an  example.  But  we  want  much  more  than 
a  flawless  example.  We  have  seen  in  the 
lower  paths  many  fair  and  lovely  things,  but 
they    have    not    touched    us,    except    perhaps 


266        ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION 

to  compunction  or  remorse.  We  need  the 
mystical  union.  We  need  to  take  in  its  full 
strength  the  truth  that  we  are  members  of  His 
body,  of  His  flesh,  and  of  His  bones,  and  that 
He  lives  now  as  a  human  body  with  a  human 
soul,  and  imparts  life  to  the  frail  and  trembling 
spirits  that  stumble  in  their  following  of  His  way. 
What  we  need  is  a  union  which  exists  even 
when  we  are  not  conscious  of  it.  That  is,  our 
union  with  Christ  is  not  identical  with  com- 
munion. Sometimes  the  glory  of  our  right 
in  Him  bursts  upon  us  like  a  strong  sunshine. 
More  often  it  is  obscured.  It  is  there,  how- 
ever, all  the  while,  whether  the  cloud  abides 
or  lifts.  In  the  second  group  of  the  Pauline 
epistles  we  find  much,  and  very  much,  about 
the  mystical  union  between  Christ  and  the 
believer.  The  apostle  tells  us  that  though 
we  have  known  Christ  after  the  flesh,  yet  now 
henceforth  know  we  Him  so  no  more.  We 
know  Him  after  the  spirit.  The  well-spring 
is  opened  in  the  heart.  In  communion  as  well 
as  in  union,  we  deal  directly  with  the  risen 
Lord.     There  is  an  outward  revelation  which 


ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION        267 


is  most  precious,  but  the  inward  revelation  is 
more  precious  still.  We  do  not  lose  the 
historical  Jesus.  We  do  not  lose  any  deed 
He  wrought,  any  word  He  spoke,  any  agony 
He  endured.  Each  is  more  precious  than 
gold.  The  historical  Jesus  and  the  risen 
Lord  are  one ;  but  the  historical  Jesus  would 
be  little  to  us  if  we  had  not  the  risen  Lord, 
and  it  is  the  revelation  of  the  Resurrection 
and  the  Enthronement  which  glorifies  the 
earthly  life  in  Palestine.  The  first  Adam  is 
of  the  earth,  earthy  ;  the  second  Adam  is  a 
Quickening  Spirit  and  the  Lord  from  heaven. 
We  are  saved  through  the  Atonement,  and 
saved  into  the  union.  The  fact  of  the  union 
is  the  pivot  of  the  entire  theology.  Take  the 
First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  and  mark  how 
the  mystical  union  of  the  believer  with  Christ 
dominates  the  whole  field  of  life.  In  the  first 
place,  it  makes  factions  in  the  Christian  Church 
impossible.  The  raging  of  the  factions  exists 
just  in  proportion  as  the  union  with  the  one 
Lord  is  lost.  Then  it  is  the  union  with  Christ 
that  makes   marriage    spiritual    and    mystical. 


268        ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION 

Family  life  is  sanctified  in  Christ,  and  those 
who  are  one  in  Him  have  that  which  resists 
all  the  fraying,  all  the  severances  of  the 
earthly  years.  Then  we  read  that  the  Lord's 
Supper  is  an  emblem  of  union  because  it  is 
the  means  of  communion  with  Christ's  Body 
and  Blood.  Then  we  are  taught  that  the 
union  of  Christ  with  humanity  means  a  re- 
stored humanity — a  subject  to  be  developed 
a  little  more  fully.  The  summing  up  of  the 
whole  is  the  interpenetration  of  the  believer's 
life  by  the  supernatural  life  of  Christ.  We 
shall  try  to  apply  this  principle  to  some  of  the 
present  difficulties  of  to-day. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  mystical  union,  a 
union  between  redeemed  humanity — body  and 
soul — and  the  exalted  Redeemer,  Incarnate  on 
the  Eternal  Throne.  We — body  and  soul — 
are  the  members  of  His  body,  of  His  flesh, 
and  of  His  bones.  We  dwell  in  Him  ;  He 
dwells  in  us.  He  springs  up  in  our  hearts 
and  rises  to  all  eternity.  Let  us  see  how  this 
great  and  ruling  truth  helps  us  to  confront  the 
problems  of  life. 


ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION        269 

I 

Consider  its  relation  to  the  social  work  of 
the  Church.  Many  of  us  remember  the  time 
when  a  very  sharp  line  was  drawn  between 
the  spiritual  and  the  secular,  and  the  spiritual 
was  exalted.  The  preacher's  business  was  to 
work  for  the  salvation  of  souls.  The  Church 
was  a  building  for  the  worship  of  God  and  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel.  It  was  occupied  two 
or  three  times  a  week,  and  for  the  rest  quite 
useless.  Philanthropy  was  held  to  be  distinct 
from  Christianity.  It  was  inspired  by  Chris- 
tianity, no  doubt,  and  was  good  in  itself,  but  it 
was  not  allowed  to  invade  the  sphere  of  the 
Church's  true  activity.  As  for  recreation,  it 
was  thought  outside  the  Church's  mission,  and 
was  even  regarded  in  some  quarters  as  hostile 
to  the  spiritual  energies  of  the  faithful.  By 
and  by  there  came  menaces  and  reproaches 
from  the  leaders  of  the  working  people. 
Worse  than  that,  we  became  aware  of  the 
fact  that  the  people  were  drifting  away  from 
organised    Christianity.      Many    of    us    well 


270        ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION 

remember   that    we    were    irritated    by   these 
challenges.       We    had    been    brought    up    to 
believe  that  our  business  was  to  bring  souls 
to  Christ,  and  that  if  we  could  do  that,  other 
problems    would   gradually    solve   themselves. 
We  forgot  that  the  Church  once  made  it  her 
special  business  to  care  for  the  poor,  and  that 
when  this  became  the  function  of  the  State,  a 
true  and  precious  link  was  broken.     Nor  can 
it  be  denied  that  in  some  early  experiments  in 
social  Christianity  the  whole  stress  of  labour 
seemed    to    go    towards    the    satisfaction    of 
earthly   needs,   while   the  hunger  of  the  soul 
and  the  thirst  of  the  spirit  and  the  nakedness 
of  the    whole    nature   were   ignored    and    for- 
gotten.     A    true  conception    of  the    mystical 
union  makes  things  clear.     It  helps  us  to  see 
that  the  threats  were  prophetic  invitations  to 
the  work  of  Christ.     We  may  have  been  very 
indignant  when  people  said,  "  It  would  be  a  far 
better  thing  to  drain  the  houses  of  the  poor 
than   to  give  them  churches."      Now  we  see 
that  the  two  things  are  not  to  be  set  against 
one   another,    that    both    are   to    be    sought. 


ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION       271 

Now  we  perceive  that  the  Christ,  Who  is 
Incarnate  and  Supreme,  is  united  to  the 
bodies  and  the  souls  of  His  people,  and  we 
are  members  of  His  body,  of  His  flesh,  and  of 
His  bones.  So  we  perceive  that  His  work  of 
redemption  has  gone  wider  than  we  thought, 
and  that  it  extends  to  the  bodies  as  well  as  to 
the  souls  of  men.  What  is  done  merely  for 
the  body  is  a  step  towards  salvation.  Looking 
round  his  great  congregation  one  Sunday 
night,  Mr.  Spurgeon  spoke  of  the  extremities 
to  which  some  were  reduced.  '*  Some  of  you," 
he  said,  *'  are  hungry,  and  do  not  know  where 
to  turn  for  a  morsel  of  bread.  Has  it  even 
come  to  this  1 "  Whoever  fed  the  hungry, 
worked  towards  the  Christian  salvation.  All 
social  work  takes  a  new  colour  and  a  happy 
radiance  when  it  is  done  in  the  thought  of  the 
union — in  the  remembrance  that  Christ  died 
for  the  body  as  well  as  for  the  soul,  and  that 
He  means  to  have  with  Him  the  whole  man, 
body  and  soul,  in  the  House  not  made  with 
hands. 


272        ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION 

II 

It  is  the  thought  of  the  mystical  union  that 
helps  us  to  understand  the  resurrection  of  the 
body.  When  we  realise  that  Christ  took  for 
our  sakes  the  body  as  the  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  we  know  that  the  body  cannot  really 
die.  We  may  never  be  able  to  understand  in 
its  vast  reaches  the  unfathomable  argument  of 
St.  Paul  when  he  deals  in  his  first  letter  to  the 
Corinthians  with  the  theme  of  the  resurrection. 
But  it  is  clear  at  least  that  he  utterly  sets 
aside  two  extremes  of  thought.  There  was  a 
time,  and  it  may  not  have  passed,  when  many 
good  Christians  talked  about  the  body  as 
merely  a  suit  of  clothes,  to  be  laid  away  care- 
lessly as  a  thing  of  no  account.  This  is  the 
expression  used,  I  remember,  by  Professor  De 
Morgan.  He  said  :  ''  Do  with  my  body  as 
you  like  :  treat  it  as  a  worn-out  garment ;  it 
does  not  matter  what  hole  you  bury  it  in." 
Something  deep  and  ineradicable  in  the  human 
mind  has  protested  against  this.  When  the 
reverence  due  to  the  dead  is  forgotten,  Chris- 


ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION        273 

tianity  has  vanished,  and  something  more  than 
Christianity.  Christ  did  not  take  our  flesh  as 
a  garment  to  be  laid  aside.  He  took  it  as 
part  of  Himself.  Then  we  have  had  another 
evil  extreme.  We  have  been  taught  the 
doctrine  of  the  literal  resurrection  of  the  flesh. 
Now  St.  Paul  wrote  his  chapter  in  the  First 
Corinthians  expressly  to  destroy  both  of  these 
beliefs.  He  asserted  the  continuity  of  the 
body,  and  he  denied  explicitly  the  literal 
resurrection  of  the  flesh.  In  his  view,  the 
body  is  united  to  Christ  as  well  as  the  soul. 
There  is  an  interdependence  between  the  two 
in  Him  even  when  they  are  separated  by 
death.  Body  and  soul  remain  in  union  with 
Christ,  and,  in  a  day  to  be,  body  and  soul  will 
be  united  to  make  the  one  man  in  Christ  Jesus 
before  the  throne  of  the  Incarnate  God.  St. 
Paul  teaches  us  that  the  body  which  shall  be, 
is  not  the  body  that  is.  Nevertheless,  it  is 
not  a  new  creation,  but,  in  some  sense  known 
to  God,  a  resurrection  of  the  body  in  which  we 
are  at  present.  The  body  which  we  shall 
wear  in  glory  is  as  truly  the  same  body  as  we 


274        ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION 

are  wearing  now,  as  the  body  we  are  wearing 
now  is  the  same  body  with  which  we  were 
born.  How  ?  The  essence  of  the  identity 
between  the  body  of  the  little  child  and  the 
grown  man  or  woman  is  impossible  to  define. 
Even  so  the  relation  between  the  body  that 
we  lay  in  the  grave  to  become  dust  again  and 
the  glorified  body,  we  cannot  tell.  But  we 
know  enough  to  perceive  the  beauty  of  the 
words  of  the  Shorter  Catechism  :  "  The  souls 
of  believers  are  at  their  death  made  perfect  in 
holiness,  and  do  immediately  pass  into  glory, 
while  their  bodies  being  still  united  to  Christ 
do  rest  in  their  graves  till  the  resurrection." 
These  risen  bodies  will  be  like  the  body  of 
the  risen  Lord.  Changes  unthinkable  will  have 
passed  over  them,  but  they  will  be  the  same. 
When  He  smote  the  gates  of  brass  and 
snapped  the  bars  of  iron  in  sunder,  and  re- 
turned to  His  disciples  from  the  dead,  they 
did  not  know  Him  at  first,  but  after  a  little 
time  they  knew  Him.  It  was  as  when  friends 
part  and  go  out  into  foreign  lands,  and  come 
back  after  years  of  toil  and  separation,  and  do 


ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION       275 

not  know  those  whose  faces  they  had  gazed  on 
from  the  beginning.  But  by  and  by  some- 
thing— a  tone  of  voice,  a  look  of  love — brings 
recognition,  and  gradually  the  past  is  traced  in 
the  present.  So  death  comes  and  separates 
the  body  from  the  soul  for  a  time,  but  neither 
from  Christ,  and  we  look  forward  by  faith  to 
the  ending  of  separations.  A  great  citizen  of 
Birmingham  used  to  comfort  himself  very 
much  with  this  Greek  word,  aaXiriaeL,  ''  the 
trumpet  shall  sound."  Yes,  the  trumpet  shall 
sound.  All  the  New  Testament  is  meaning- 
less unless  it  teaches  the  coming  of  a  day  of 
days,  when  the  old  order  shall  end,  and  the 
new  everlasting  order  begin.  What  reverence 
and  care  this  should  teach  us  for  our  own 
bodies,  and  what  pity,  wrath,  and  revenge 
should  stir  in  our  hearts  to  see  the  bodies  for 
which  Christ  died  starved  and  defiled  and 
corrupted  as  they  are  in  our  great  cities  to-day  ! 


276        ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION 

III 

May  not  this  union  with  Christ  help  us  to 
understand  a  little  better  the  dark  and  terrible 
mystery  of  human   suffering  ?      What    is   our 
union  with  Christ  ?     What  did  St.  Paul  pray 
that   he   might   know  ?      '*  That   I    may   know 
Him  and  the  fellowship  of  His  suffering."     It 
is  a  union  in  suffering.     And  you  remember 
that  the  blessed  Apostle  also  said:  ''  I  fill  up 
that    which    is    behind    of    the    afflictions    of 
Christ."     What  did  he  mean  ?     Certainly  he 
did  not  mean  that  he  took  part  in  the  great 
atonement    and    oblation    for   the    sin    of   the 
world.     It  did  not  mean  that  he  had  a  part  in 
the  substitutionary  sacrifice.      But   I  think  it 
meant  as  much  as  this— that  in  all  our  afflic- 
tions Christ  is  afflicted ;    that   the  sorrows  of 
the  members  are  the  sorrows  of  the  Head,  and 
that  on   the    Head   rests   in  some  mysterious 
fashion  the  burden  which  every  member  bears. 
The  Apostle  meant  to  teach  the  solidarity,  the 
interdependence  of  the  members  of  the  super- 
natural   Church    on    earth,    redeemed    by    the 


ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION       277 

Blood  of  the  Lamb.  Did  he  not  mean  that 
we,  the  members  throughout  the  world  of  this 
great  body  of  which  Christ  is  the  Head,  have 
to  endure  together  a  certain  amount  of  suffer- 
ing, and  to  fill  up  the  measure  before  the  day 
of  triumph,  release,  and  jubilee  come  ?  Does 
he  not  mean  :  "  I  may  be  suffering  for  another 
unknown  to  me,  but  that  is  all  in  the  great 
plan."  When  I  realise  that  I  am  **  filling  up  that 
which  is  behind  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ,"  by 
faith  I  know  that  there  is  a  meaning  in  what 
seems  purposeless.  We  are  familiar  with  the 
explanations  of  suffering.  We  are  told  that 
suffering  means  discipline,  and  it  does,  no 
doubt.  But  that  will  not  explain  every  case. 
Often  those  who  need  the  discipline  do  not 
suffer,  and  a  saint  who  did  not  need  it  is  racked 
with  pain.  Further,  suffering  often  fails  com- 
pletely as  a  discipline,  and  ends  in  souring  the 
temper  and  hardening  the  heart.  May  we  not 
find  comfort  in  the  thought  that  the  suffering, 
about  which  we  cannot  talk  to  any  human 
being,  is  not  only  known  to  Christ,  but  is  also 
felt  by  Christ?     Is  there  not  comfort  also  in 


278        ASPECTS  OF  THE  MYSTICAL  UNION 

the  thought  that  in  Christ  we  are  joined  to 
the  great  mystical  body,  and  things  are  rough 
with  us  that  they  may  be  lighter  for  others. 
Every  Christian  sorrow,  however  dumb  and 
obscure,  wins  something,  or  carries  something 
away  from  another. 

So  let  me  close  by  saying,  Make  room  for 
Christ.  The  true  union  is  when  He  takes  the 
place  of  us,  when  He  is  within  us  as  a  second 
self,  a  second  heart,  a  second  conscience.  That 
is  the  realisation  of  the  union.  But  often  we 
are  not  conscious  that  the  union  exists,  though 
it  is  there.  Christ  lives  within  us,  waking  or 
sleeping,  living  or  dying.  Let  us  make  room 
for  Christ,  and  pray  for  the  consummation  of 
that  union,  that  we  may  be  counted  worthy 
to  obtain  that  world  and  the  resurrection  from 
the  dead. 


THE   FUTURE   OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 

CHURCH^ 

All  the  ends  of  the  world  shall  remember,  and  turn  unto 
the  Lord. — PSALM  xxii.  27. 

What  is  to  be  the  future  of  the  Church 
of  Christ  on  earth  ?  Is  the  kingdom  of 
God  advancing  and  still  to  advance  ?  Often 
it  seems  to  the  faithful  that  they  are  in 
presence  of  a  standstill,  or  even  of  a  retro- 
gression. They  are  tried,  strained,  surprised 
at  the  slow  victories  of  faith.  It  seems  as 
if  the  Gospel  were  slighted,  put  aside,  failing 
of  its  full  effect.  Sometimes  they  have  days 
of  glorious  triumph,  but  often  the  heart  sinks 
before  the  continued  and  present  power  of 
evil.     It    is   no   wonder   that    this    should    be 

^  Preached  at  the  Upper  Chapel,  Heckmondwike  (Heckmondwike 
Lecture),  on  Wednesday  morning,  June  13,  1906. 

279 


28o     THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

SO,  for  the  demands  and  expectations  are 
greater  than  before,  and  the  difficulties  are 
not  less.  The  work  grows  heavier,  and  it 
does  not  always  seem  to  grow  clearer  and 
more  hopeful.  So  we  perplex  ourselves.  We 
say,  Is  the  power  of  Christians  at  home  as 
great  as  it  used  to  be  .^  Is  that  power 
increasing  or  diminishing  in  the  vast  realms 
of  heathendom  }  Are  we  bringing  in  converts 
in  numbers  proportionate  to  the  growth  in 
population  '^.  It  is  not  easy  for  us  to  judge 
the  truth  of  things  around  us,  and  if  we  can 
read  the  future  it  can  only  be  by  the  light 
of  revelation.  ''What  are  your  prospects.'^" 
was  the  question  put  to  an  intrepid  mission- 
ary. He  answered,  and  he  could  never  have 
bettered  the  reply,  "  They  are  as  bright  as 
the  promises  of  God." 


I 

There  are  three  theories  of  the  future 
of  Christianity  which  have  been  held  by 
Christians. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH    281 

(i)  There  are  those  who  say  that  we  are 
never  to  look  for  a  glorious  future  to  the 
Church  on  earth.  There  is  to  be  no  such 
thing  as  a  universal  spread  of  the  Gospel. 
The  Church  is  not  to  wax,  but  wane.  The 
kingdom  of  Heaven  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  world  but  to  condemn  it.  It  exists  on 
earth  to  save  the  few  out  of  the  wreck,  and 
the  rest  go,  as  was  ordained,  to  perdition.  The 
utmost  we  can  hope  to  do  is  to  rescue  an  elect 
soul  here  and  there  from  the  general  cata- 
strophe, leaving  the  nations  to  perish  and  the 
mass  of  mankind  to  become  castaways.  That 
view,  though  it  bases  itself  on  some  facts 
which  cannot  be  disputed,  and  also  on  some 
Scripture  passages  which  might  conceivably 
be  interpreted  in  its  favour,  is  now  rightly 
rejected  as  wholly  inconsistent  with  the 
general  tenor  of  the  Gospel,  with  the  character 
of  the  God  of  grace,  and  with  the  promises  of 
Holy  Scripture. 

(2)  There  is  another  view  of  which  one 
hears  very  little  in  these  days,  though  it  was 
the  doctrine  of  the  early  Church,  and  though 


282     THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

it  may  ground  itself  much  more  securely  on 
the  words  of  the  New  Testament — both  in 
the  Gospels  and  in  the  Epistles.  It  is  that 
the  power  of  good  and  the  power  of  evil  will 
alike  increase.  "  Let  both  grow  together 
until  the  harvest,"  is  the  word  of  our  Lord. 
St.  Augustine  taught  that,  however  the  leaven 
of  the  Gospel  may  spread,  the  power  of  evil 
and  the  malignity  of  evil  will  advance.  It  is 
all  contained  in  one  dread  word  seldom  spoken 
now — the  word  anti-Christ.  The  thought  of 
anti-Christ  was  prominent  in  the  early  Church, 
even  in  the  instruction  given  to  catechumens. 
When  instructed  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Second 
Advent  of  our  Lord  without  sin  unto  salvation, 
pupils  were  taught  that  the  ruthless,  murderous, 
merciless,  crafty  spirit  of  anti-Christ  would 
grow,  and  before  the  end  seem  to  prevail. 
The  Second  Advent  would  come  after  the 
struggle,  in  which  all  the  past  sufferings  of 
the  Church  would  be  far  excelled,  in  which  a 
persecution  against  the  saints  of  God,  such  as 
had  not  been  from  the  beginning,  would  sift 
the  very  elect.     The  saints  would  wrestle  with 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH    283 

Satan  in  his  own  person,  in  a  time  of  trouble 
such  as  had  not  been,  in  a  time  when  iniquity- 
would  abound  and  the  love  of  many  would  wax 
cold.      In  this  Armageddon  of  the  earth,  the 
greatest  of  all  the  great  conflicts  which   God 
had    permitted    to    befall    His    Church,    there 
would  be  a  falling  away,  and  so  terrible  would 
be  the  trial  that  except  these  days  should  be 
shortened   no   flesh   should   be   saved,  but   for 
the  elect's  sake  the  days  should  be  shortened. 
In  that  dark  time  the  daily  sacrifice  would  be 
taken  away,  words  which  were  interpreted  to 
mean    the    forcible    cessation    of  all    religious 
worship.       St.     Augustine    doubted    whether 
baptism    would    be    administered    during    that 
period.       Further,    taking    the    words    of    our 
Lord,     that     the     abomination     that     maketh 
desolate  should  be  set  up  in  the  holy  place, 
it    was    foretold    that    some    terrible    form    of 
blasphemy  with   rites  of  devil-worship  would 
be   substituted    for  the    service   of  Christ    in 
the  churches.     The  power  seemingly  victori- 
ous would  work   miracles,   overwhelming   the 
imagination  with  signs  that  might  deceive  the 


284     THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

very  elect.  The  spirit  of  anti- Christ  has 
never  been  quite  dormant  in  the  world.  The 
Emperor  Julian  was  taken  as  in  a  degree 
typical  of  the  anti-Christ  who  was  to  come. 
In  the  French  Revolution  there  were  many  of 
the  works  of  anti-Christ,  and  we  may  freely 
admit  that  there  are  powers  existing,  and  not  so 
very  far  away,  which  might  yet  find  the  work 
of  anti-Christ  congenial.  So  then,  in  the  view  of 
the  early  Church,  the  kingdom  of  Christ  would 
grow  steadily  ;  the  kingdom  of  Satan  would 
also  grow  steadily.  The  two  hostile  powers 
would  come  into  conflict  In  a  battle  In  which 
the  Church  would  seem  to  tremble  and  waver. 
Then  Christ  Himself  would  appear  and  consume 
the  anti-Christ  by  the  breath  of  His  mouth,  and 
destroy  him  by  the  brightness  of  His  coming. 

(3)  There  is,  thirdly,  the  theory  of  hope, 
the  theory  that  in  manifold  ways,  some 
apparent  and  some  hidden,  the  kingdom  of 
God  keeps  coming,  and  will  come.  There  is 
the  faith  that  the  armies  of  the  aliens,  in  spite 
of  all  we  see,  are  being  beaten  back,  and  that 
in  the  end  evil  will  gradually  die  out  of  the 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH    285 

living  world  and  be  merged  in  the  good.  Not 
that  the  solemn  warnings  of  Scripture  and  the 
stern  facts  of  life  are  ignored.  The  words  of  our 
Lord,  so  plain,  so  unmistakable,  are  not  to  be 
forgotten.  *'  The  enemy  that  soweth  them  is 
the  devil."  Our  fight  is  not  with  flesh  and 
blood,  but  with  principalities  and  powers,  with 
Satanic  hosts  on  which  no  impression  is 
made  by  what  is  called  civilisation,  or  social 
reform,  or  intellectual  enlightenment.  But  the 
promises  look  to  the  extension  of  the  Re- 
deemer's kingdom,  to  the  flowing  of  all  nations 
to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  House,  to  the 
day  when  they  shall  not  hurt  or  destroy  in  all 
God's  holy  mountain,  when  the  earth  shall  be 
full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  as  the 
waters  cover  the  sea.  We  are  not  to  be 
surprised,  not  to  be  disheartened,  at  the 
strength  and  inveterate  enmity  of  the  hostile 
forces.  We  have  been  forewarned,  and  we 
are  not  to  be  in  needless  fear,  not  to  be  afraid 
where  no  fear  is.  Greater  is  He  that  is  for  us 
than  all  they  that  are  against  us.  The  day 
of  the  latter  rain,  the  second  Pentecost,  is  to 


286     THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

precede  the  coming  of  our  Saviour,  a  blessed 
time  when  the  prophecies  will  be  seen  in  a  new 
light.  *'  And  the  inhabitants  of  one  city  shall 
go  to  another,  saying,  Let  us  go  speedily  to 
pray  before  the  Lord,  and  to  seek  the  Lord  of 
Hosts :  I  will  go  also.  Yea,  many  people 
and  strong  nations  shall  come  to  seek  the 
Lord."  ''  Those  beautiful  questioning  words 
of  Isaiah  about  the  Gentiles  often  occur  to 
me,"  says  one,  '''Who  are  these  that  fly  as 
doves  to  their  windows  1 ' — a  flock  of  doves 
speeding  to  their  homes,  their  ark  of  refuge. 
Noah's  one  dove,  like  the  solitary  Jewish 
Church,  took  refuge  there  from  the  wild  waste 
of  waters.  But  all  kindreds,  peoples,  tongues, 
and  nations  shall  fly  to  their  stronghold  in  the 
latter  times,  their  wings  covered  with  silver 
and  their  feathers  with  yellow  gold,  white  and 
lovely,  though  they  have  lien  among  the  pots." 
The  words  I  have  chosen  as  a  text  are  from 
the  Psalm  which  many  conjecture  was  used  as 
a  soliloquy  by  our  Lord  when  He  was  expiring 
on  the  Cross.  Well  might  it  have  been  so, 
well  might  He  recall  the  music  of  the  promise 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH    287 

in  the  hour  when  He  was  bruising  Satan  under 
His  nailed  feet. 

II 

The  promise  is  notable  for  its  use  of  the 
word  *'  Remember."  ''  All  the  ends  of  the 
world  shall  remember,  and  turn  unto  the  Lord." 
I  wish  you  to  linger  upon  that.  One  great 
subject  of  philosophers  in  these  days  is  the 
subliminal  consciousness,  the  vast  store  of 
ideas  and  impressions  in  the  mind  which  are 
sleeping  but  not  dead,  which  may  spring  to 
life  at  a  touch  or  a  call,  which  may  even 
energise  for  themselves  when  we  are  ignorant 
of  their  action.  What  is  lying  dormant  in  the 
heart  of  heathendom  ?  The  ends  of  the 
world  shall  remember.  It  is  in  memory  that 
all  conversion  begins.  "  How  many  hired 
servants  of  my  father's  have  bread  enough  and 
to  spare!"  said  the  prodigal,  as  he  remembered 
his  father's  house.  Will  the  nations  one  day 
remember  the  house  of  their  Father.'*  They 
tell  us  that  there  lingers  in  the  races,  however 
sunken  and  degraded,  the  memory  of  a  golden 


288     THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

time  when  God  and  man  were  friends.  Max 
Mtiller  tells  us  that  the  theory  of  a  primitive 
revelation  is  found  both  among  the  lowest  and 
among  the  most  highly  civilised  races.  It  is 
a  constant  saying  among  x\frican  tribes  that 
formerly  heaven  was  nearer  to  earth  than  it  is 
now,  that  the  highest  God,  the  Creator  Him- 
self, formerly  gave  lessons  of  wisdom  to  human 
beings,  but  that  afterwards  He  withdrew  Him- 
self from  them,  and  dwells  now  far  from  them 
in  heaven.  The  Hindus  say  the  same. 
They  look  back,  as  in  the  hymn  of  the  sage 
Vasishtha  :  "  Where  are  those  friendships  of 
us  two  ?  Let  us  seek  the  harmony  which  we 
enjoyed  of  old.  I  have  gone,  O  self-sustaining 
Varuna,  to  thy  vast  and  spacious  house  with  a 
thousand  gates.  He  who  was  thy  friend, 
intimate,  thine  own  and  beloved,  has  com- 
mitted offences  against  thee." 

The  Greeks  had  legends  of  a  happy 
time  when  God  Himself  was  the  Shepherd 
of  men  and  ruled  over  them,  when  death 
was  a  peaceful  passing  away  followed  by 
a  glorified  existence.     Says  Socrates:    "The 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH    289 

ancients,  who  were  our  betters  and  nearer  the 

gods   than  we,  handed   down   the  tradition  to 

us."      The    records    are    full    of  such    mystic 

strains.     When  we  speak  to  the  nations  we  do 

not  speak  to  those  who  have  been  unvisited 

of  their  God.     Even  in  the  Aztec  mythology 

there  are  legends  of  the  travels  of  the  gods 

and  their  residence  among  men.     Stone  seats 

were  fixed  at  the  corners  of  the  streets  for  the 

highest    of   these    gods    to    rest    upon,    seats 

canopied  over  with    green   boughs    constantly 

renewed    and    rigorously    kept    from    human 

occupation. 

What    they  remember   is  the  existence   of 

one  God.     Monotheism  is  the  natural  religion, 

and  remains  in  the  quiet  background,  however 

obscure    or   overlaid.      This    is  the  authentic 

saying  of  a  Kaffir  when  the  Gospel  was  first 

preached :   *'  We   had  this  word,  the  name   of 

God,  long   before  the  missionaries  came ;    we 

had    God    long   ago,  for    a    man    when    dying 

would  utter  his  last  words  saying,  *  I  am  going 

home,  I  am  going  up  on  high.'     For  there  is  a 

word  in  a  song  which  says — 

u 


290     THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

Guide  me,  O  Hawk  ! 

That  I  go  heavenward, 

To  seek  the  one-hearted  man. 

Away  from  the  double-hearted  men 

Who  deal  with  blessing  and  cursing. 

So  we  say  there  is  no  God  Who  has  just 
come  to  us.  Let  no  man  say,  *  The  God 
which  is,  is  the  God  of  the  EngHsh.'  There 
are  not  many  gods:  there  is  but  one  God." 
Another  testimony  I  will  adduce  from  the 
State  religion  of  China,  the  public  prayer  of 
the  Emperor  on  behalf  of  the  State  at  one  of 
the  great  sacrifices  :  *'  Thy  sovereign  goodness 
is  infinite.  As  a  potter  hast  Thou  made  all 
living  things.  Engraven  on  the  heart  of  Thy 
poor  servant  is  the  sense  of  Thy  goodness, 
but  my  feeling  cannot  be  fully  displayed. 
With  great  kindness  Thou  dost  bear  with  us, 
and  notwithstanding  our  demerits,  dost  grant 
us  life  and  prosperity." 

Then  there  is  the  endless  sense  of  sin, 
of  ignorance,  of  the  need  of  sacrifice.  I 
have  no  time  to  adduce  examples,  but 
who   can   be    blind    to  the    unbroken    witness 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH    291 


of  the  human  race,  to  the  immeasurable 
and  mysterious  power  of  sacrifice,  and  to  the 
truth  that  the  gulf  that  has  opened  between 
God  and  His  erring  creatures  can  only  be 
closed  by  sacrifice  ?  How  wonderful  are  the 
stories  of  Codrus  offering  himself  to  die 
for  his  people,  of  Decius  volunteering  for 
his  army,  of  the  Chinese  Emperor  Thang 
devoting  himself  as  a  victim  for  his  famine- 
stricken  subjects  !  ''  Let  this  be  my  substitute, 
this  my  expiation,"  is  the  word  spoken  over 
the  sin-offering.  Nay,  the  secret  of  the  Cross 
was  almost  divined  before  it  was  uttered.  We 
read  in  the  Brahmanas  that  the  Lord  of 
creatures  offered  Himself  a  sacrifice.  It  is 
indeed  an  awful  truth  that  the  primitive 
revelation,  the  divine  preparation  of  the 
mind  for  Christ,  has  been  so  defaced,  so 
obliterated.  The  most  truly  divine  becomes 
the  most  truly  devilish,  for  the  corruptions 
of  the  best  things  are  the  worst.  But 
still,  when  all  is  said,  the  Christian  mission- 
ary finds  himself  in  a  mysterious  temple 
half  ruined,  if  not  wholly  defiled,   which  was 


292     THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

yet  in  the  beginning  meant  for  God.  God 
has  made  of  one  heart  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  and  wherever  the  story  of  evangelic 
love,  of  the  Christian  redemption  is  told, 
then  the  same  chords  are  struck.  Some 
books  of  the  New  Testament  and  other 
Christian  books  found  their  way  almost 
accidentally  into  the  hands  of  a  Japanese 
prisoner  at  Otsu,  a  scholar  incarcerated  for 
manslaughter.  A  fire  broke  out  in  the  prison, 
and  a  hundred  prisoners,  instead  of  trying  to 
escape,  helped  to  put  out  the  flames,  and  to 
a  man  remained  to  undergo  the  rest  of  their 
sentences.  It  turned  out  that  the  possessor 
of  these  books  had  used  them  to  teach  his 
fellow -captives,  and  Christian  principles,  com- 
bined with  his  personal  influence,  restrained 
them  from  defrauding  justice.  The  scholar 
was  afterwards  pardoned,  but  remained  in 
Otsu  to  teach  more  of  the  new  way  to  the 
prisoners.  It  is  the  story  of  Paul  and  Silas 
at  Philippi  told  over  again.  ''  Do  thyself 
no  harm  :  for  we  are  all  here." 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH    293 


III 


(i)  ''  All  the  ends  of  the  world  shall  remem- 
ber, and  turn  to  the  Lord."     Mark  that  where 
Jesus  is  not  preached  as   Lord,  there  are  no 
Christian  missions.     We  believe  in  the  Church 
outside  the  Churches,  in  the  spreading  of  the 
Christian    spirit    in    many   places    where    the 
name  of  Christ  is  denied.     But   it   has   been 
well   said   that   in  what  may   be   called   extra- 
mural   Christianity,    the    Christianity    of  men 
like    Carlyle    and    Huxley,    there    is    no   zeal 
even  for  the  application  of  Christian  principles 
to    the   heathen    races.     There  are  noble  ex- 
ceptions, but   the  record  of  Carlyle  is  among 
the   blackest   in  this  respect.     Nor  has   there 
been  a  sustained  and  energetic  propaganda  of 
Christianity  among  those  who  take  away  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  and   leave  us  a  human 
example  ;  those  who  take  away  a  living  Saviour 
and  leave  us  an  entombed  body  ;  who  take  away 
the  power  of  God  in  human  life,  and  leave  us 
a  law,  a  hero,  and  a  Cross.     This  Christianity 


294     THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

which  leaves  us  a  human  Christ  is  a  Christi- 
anity which  is  local  and  temporal.     The  true 
Christianity  is  as  universal  as  the  love  of  God. 
Christianity    is    not    the    climbing   of  men   to 
heaven  by  a  tower  of  Babel,  but  the  descent 
of  the  new  Jerusalem  out  of  heaven  from  God. 
How   should  it   be   otherwise?     The   need  of 
the  heathen  people  is  the  need  of  a  Saviour. 
They  have  lost   their  conception  of  God  be- 
cause   they    have    wandered    from    Him,    and 
know  not  the  way  of  return.     Do  not  think  it 
is  enough  to  preach  to  them  the  enthroning  at 
God's  right  hand  of  the  noblest  of  human  spirits. 
That  will  not  help  them.     They  seek  for  that 
truth   of  expiation  which  so  perplexes  philo- 
sophers and  theologians,  but  which  the  human 
heart    rises  up    to    embrace    with    a    clinging 
rapture    wherever    it    is    plainly   declared.     It 
is  not  the  example  that  saves  them,  not   the 
king  even,  nor  the  prophet.     They  are  saved 
by  the  priest ;    they  will    never   turn   to  any 
Lord  who   is   not    Priest  as  well   as   Prophet 
and  King.     They  must  have  all  the  glorious 
truth  if  their  hurt  is  to  be  healed. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH    295 


Thou  standest  in  the  hoHest  place 

As  one  for  guilty  sinners  slain, 
Thy  blood  of  sprinkling  speaks  and  pleads, 

All  prevalent  for  helpless  man  : 
Into  earth's  lower  courts  it  comes 
And  fills  them  with  its  rich  perfumes. 

(2)   It  Is  not  promised  that  they  shall  turn 
to  our  -Isms,  to  Methodism,  to  Presbyterlanism, 
to    any   sect.     When    the    ends    of  the    earth 
remember,    they    will    turn    unto    the    Lord. 
For  the  spread  of  Christian  missions  will  not 
only    show   us   what   Christianity   can    do.      It 
will  also  show  us  what  Christianity  Is.     Into 
the     unsounded     depths     of     revelation     the 
orientals  will  cast  their  plummet  far.     There 
are    passages  of  the    New    Testament  which 
after  two   thousand   years    of  anxious    human 
thinking  we  do  not   understand.     What  does 
our   Lord  really  mean,   for   example,   by   His 
precepts    about    non-resistance?     What    does 
He  really  mean  when  He  says,  "  Lay  not  up 
treasures  upon  earth  "  ?    We  have  all  explained 
those    passages,   and    thought    we    understood 
them.     What  if  it   should    turn  out   that  we 


296     THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

have  merely  explained  them  away  ?  Will  not 
the  Indian  mind  bring  to  us  a  new  conception 
of  the  irresistible  might  of  weakness,  of  the 
divine  influence  of  love,  of  the  long-suffering 
of  the  Lord  ?  We  have  our  Christ  to  bring 
before  them  in  the  glory  of  all  His  offices,  and 
our  reward  will  be  that  they  will  help  us  to 
understand  better  the  Redeemer  of  us  all. 


IV 

In  conclusion,  there  is  a  deep  comfort  in 
the  more  obvious  use  of  the  promise,  "  All 
the  ends  of  the  world  shall  remember."  So 
many  missionaries  have  preached  and  seemed 
to  preach  in  vain,  but  have  they  preached 
in  vain?  Not  one  actual  convert  was  left 
as  the  result  of  Henry  Martyn's  labour  in 
Persia.  But  when  Sir  R.  Porter,  seven  years 
later,  visited  Shiraz,  they  were  still  talking 
of  the  man  of  God  whom  they  had  entertained, 
and  showed  the  orange -tree  under  which  he 
used  to  sit.  Many  a  missionary  has  gone 
forth   since  then,  and  has  reaped  the  fruit   of 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH    297 

labours  long  ended,  labours  of  men  who  had 
died  in  faith.  The  Welsh  revival  was  not 
due  to  one  man,  or  to  any  body  of  living 
men.  All  the  instruction,  all  the  passion,  all 
the  pleading  of  hearts  that  had  ceased  to 
beat  were  stirred  up,  and  the  people  re- 
membered. This  work  is  strong  work,  calling 
for  strong  faith,  a  faith  unmoved  by  the 
changes  and  chances  of  the  thing  we  see. 
We  need  this  faith  to  move  with  confidence 
and  calmness  in  the  midst  of  the  relentless 
forces  marshalled  in  opposition.  The  harder 
things  of  Gospel  service  have  been  unveiled 
to  us,  and  we  need  the  unveiling  of  the  heart 
of  God.  This  is  work  full  of  hope  and  yet 
of  heartbreak,  but  the  broken  heart  is  bound 
up,  and  it  sees  the  end  of  its  pain,  and  rejoices 
that  it  was  broken  in  God's  cause.  The 
hope  shall  be  fulfilled,  "  All  the  ends  of  the 
world  shall  remember,  and  turn  unto  the 
Lord " — so  let  us  address  ourselves  to  the 
task  anew.  I  recall  the  statement  of  Professor 
Guyot,  who  said  that  there  were  three  periods 
in    the    life    of   every    plant,    one    very    slow. 


298     THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

another  much  more  rapid,  and  the  next  of 
a  whirling  rapidity.  First  is  growth  by  the 
root,  obscure,  hidden,  and  very  slow.  Then 
is  growth  by  the  stem,  much  faster.  Last 
is  growth  by  the  flower  and  the  fruit,  which 
rushes.  The  world  has  grown  by  the  root. 
The  long  periods  of  delay  are  past.  It  is 
now  growing  by  the  stem,  and  making  haste. 
We  are  on  the  eve  of  that  last  period,  when 
it  shall  blossom  and  bring  forth  fruit  to  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  joy  of  man.  God 
speed  it  in  His  day.  Let  us  say  with 
Henry  Martyn,  *'  I  have  hitherto  lived  to 
little  purpose,  more  like  a  clod  than  a  servant 
of  Chrjst ;  now  let  me  burn  out  for  God." 


ADDRESSES 


WHAT   IS   OUR  CHIEF   PERIL?^ 

The  chief  peril  of  ministers  and  Christian 
workers  is,  I  believe,  the  peril  of  fainting. 
Some,  no  doubt,  fall  into  utter  unbelief,  and 
there  are  cases  of  moral  failure  that  make  a 
continuance  of  Christian  service  impossible. 
But  these  instances  are  comparatively  few  in 
number,  and  even  when  they  occur  they  are 
preceded,  as  a  rule,  by  fainting.  We  shall 
find,  if  we  look,  many  references  to  fainting 
alike  in  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.  *'  If 
thou  faint  in  the  day  of  adversity  thy  strength 
is  small.  .  .  .  The  whole  head  is  sick  and 
the  whole  heart  is  faint.  .  .  .  Desolate  and 
faint  all  the  day."  Such  are  a  few  instances 
out  of  many  in  the   Old   Testament.     When 

^  Address  delivered  at  a  meeting  of  Congregational  ministers  at 
Lyndhurst  Road  Church,  Hampstead,  July  7,  1898. 

301 


302  WHA T  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL ? 

we  come  to  the  New  Testament  we  find  it 
strangely  bound  by  the  recognition  of  faint- 
ing as  the  danger  of  Christ's  servants.  Our 
Blessed  Lord  Himself  in  His  estate  of  humilia- 
tion said,  **  Men  ought  always  to  pray  and  not 
to  faint,"  and  illustrated  His  injunction.  The 
Apostles  bear  the  same  testimony.  St.  Paul, 
recording  a  stage  in  his  brief  everlasting 
ministry,  made  his  humble  boast  and  said 
twice,  "  We  faint  not."  He  gave  the  in- 
junction, *'  And  let  us  not  be  weary  in  well- 
doing, for  in  due  season  we  shall  reap,  if 
we  faint  not."  The  author  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  more  than  once  warns  against 
fainting  :  '*  Consider  Him  that  endured  such 
contradiction  of  sinners  against  Himself,  lest  ye 
be  wearied  and  faint  in  your  minds."  ''  Despise 
not  thou  the  chastening  of  the  Lord,  nor  faint 
when  thou  art  rebuked  of  Him."  And  to 
complete  the  testimony  we  have  the  word  of 
our  Ascended  Lord,  "  For  My  Name's  sake 
thou  hast  laboured,  and  hast  not  fainted." 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  define  the  word. 
There  are  few  Christian  workers  whose  experi- 


WHA  T  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL  ?  303 

ence  will  not  interpret  it  better  than  any 
dictionary — this  strange  collapse  and  sinking  of 
the  heart,  which  may  sometimes  last  but  a 
short  while,  which  in  more  cases  spreads  its 
poisonous  fog  over  whole  regions  of  life,  and 
which  sometimes  so  utterly  overwhelms  the 
spirit  that  the  sufferer  has  but  a  name  to  live 
and  is  already  dead. 

Let  us  look  at  some  of  the  chief  causes  and 
some  of  the  chief  remedies  for  fainting.  We 
shall  follow  as  much  as  possible  the  line  of 
Scripture.  One  of  the  first  causes  of  fainting 
is  chastisement.  We  are  rebuked  of  the  Lord 
and  faint.  This  rebuking  may  take  the  form 
of  a  great  and  enduring  calamity,  a  calamity  that 
teaches  us  that  our  soul's  armour  is  not  of  proof 
The  swift  sudden  stroke  seems  to  separate  us 
from  the  Lord.  It  seems  as  if  we  could  never 
reconcile  ourselves  to  the  inarticulateness  of 
the  Supreme  Power.  Years  after  we  say  with 
a  sufferer,  **  I  have  had  no  experience,  no 
progress  to  put  me  into  better  intelligence 
with  my  calamity  than  when  it  was  new." 
Sometimes  the  long  pressure  of  troubles,  small 


3o6  WHA  T  IS  O  UR  CHIEF  PERIL  ? 

and  hearing  of  earthly  things,  his  son  and 
successor  asked  him  for  one  word  to  remember 
when  he  w^as  dead,  and  the  old  man  feebly 
whispered,  "  Fruitful."  Robert  Louis  Steven- 
son has  said,  *'  Our  business  in  the  world  is  not 
to  succeed,  but  to  continue  to  fail  in  good 
spirits,"  and  the  saying  has  an  element  of  truth 
in  it,  though  more  that  is  false  than  true. 
How  many  are  denied  the  external  signs  of 
fruitfulness  ?  This  applies  to  country  ministers 
perhaps  more  than  it  ever  did.  The  whole 
situation  has  altered.  There  is  no  longer  the 
old  material  to  work  upon.  The  most  zealous 
labourer  cannot  resist  the  decrease  of  the 
population,  the  drift  towards  the  towns,  the 
growing  poverty  of  those  who  remain.  A 
physical  miracle  would  have  to  be  wrought 
before  our  country  churches  as  a  rule  could 
grow  in  numbers.  It  is  a  triumph  to  keep 
them  from  diminishing ;  and  in  many  cases, 
perhaps  most,  decrease  is  inevitable.  Now 
it  is  easy  to  explain  the  reasons  for  this,  easy 
to  give  reasons  and  not  excuses,  and  yet 
somehow  to  watch  the  process  is  heart-break- 


WHA T  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL ?  307 

ing — to  see  the  little  church  growing  emptier 
each  year,  to  find  the  offerings  diminishing, 
to  feel  the  life  going  down,  to  be  almost  within 
the  shadow  of  dying.  Nobody,  whom  I  know 
of,  has  ever  told  the  trials  of  a  country 
minister,  but  many  will  understand  me  when 
I  speak  of  the  sudden  sickness  that  comes 
to  many  a  faithful  labourer  when  the  news 
reaches  him  that  one  of  his  best  helpers  has 
to  leave  and  go  to  town.  The  heart  gives 
way  and  breaks  under  the  repeated  blows. 

Then  we  have  to  recognise  that  middle  life 
and  advancing  years  bring  with  them  in  the 
physical  order  the  failure  of  energy  and  hope. 
''  What  companies  of  brilliant  young  persons 
I  have  seen,"  said  Emerson,  "  with  so  much 
expectation,  but  as  the  doctor  said  in  my  boy- 
hood, '  You  have  no  stamina.' "  Yes,  and 
even  when  there  is  plenty  of  stamina,  the 
conquering  years  do  their  work.  The  lights 
and  mights  of  youth  have  grown  dark  and 
weak.  The  speech  comes  to  lack  nerve  and 
dagger.  These  terrible  words  are  interpreted 
to  the  last  essence  of  their  meaning  :    "  The 


3o8  WHAT  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL? 

burden  and  heat  of  the  day."  The  peace  of 
the  evening  under  the  palm  is  distant,  and 
there  is  a  trackless  desert  between.  Yes,  it 
does  often  seem  so.  Christian  workers  come 
to  the  point  where  they  are  not  wanted. 
They  are  too  old  to  work  and  too  young  to 
rest,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  place  for  them. 
All  things  are  irrevocably  clamped  and  welded. 
Up  to  a  certain  point  they  move  in  a  road  with 
its  marked  stages,  and  may  hope  to  pass  from 
one  stage  to  the  other,  but  at  last,  and  earlier 
now  perhaps  than  it  used  to  be,  there  comes 
the  moment  when  all  the  tracks  seem  to  end 
suddenly  in  the  wilderness,  when  there  is  for 
them  no  definite  work,  no  definite  way.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  the  whole  head  should  be 
sick  and  the  whole  heart  faint  ? 

What  then  are  the  remedies  that  grace 
provides  for  the  fainting  spirit  ? 

Let  us  take  first  our  Lord's  kind  word, 
**  Men  ought  always  to  pray  and  not  to  faint," 
as  if  prayer  and  fainting  could  not  exist  to- 
gether. It  seems  simple,  *'  Just  fall  on  your 
knees  and  the  fainting  will  pass  away."     But 


WHAT  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL?  309 

it  is  not  so  simple  as  it  seems.  Our  Lord  said, 
'*  Always  to  pray."  He  meant  that  there 
should  always  be  the  aptitude  for  prayer,  the 
bird  not  always  on  the  wing,  but  ready  to  fly 
on  the  instant.  Is  this  easy }  "  O,"  said  a 
German  mystic,  ''that  Nathanael's  fig-tree 
stood  near  every  house,  and  that  all  praying 
souls  might  in  consequence  gain  true  refresh- 
ment in  these  words  of  Christ  speaking  to 
them  after  every  gracious  audience,  '  When 
thou  wast  under  the  fig-tree  I  saw  thee.'" 
But,  as  Coleridge  said,  in  often -quoted  and 
profoundly  true  words,  ''  To  pray  with  all  the 
heart  and  strength,  with  the  reason  and  the 
will,  prayer  with  the  whole  soul  is  the  highest 
energy  of  which  the  human  heart  is  capable." 
Indeed,  he  might  have  said  truly  that  it  is 
impossible  to  the  unaided  spirit.  But  all 
things  are  possible  to  them  that  believe. 
Praying  so,  the  answer  will  come,  will  come 
more  often,  perhaps,  in  our  being  raised  above 
trouble  than  in  the  trouble  being  taken  away, 
more  often,  perhaps,  in  our  being  made 
masters  and  lords  of  our  circumstances    than 


3o8  WHAT  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL? 

burden  and  heat  of  the  day."  The  peace  of 
the  evening  under  the  palm  is  distant,  and 
there  is  a  trackless  desert  between.  Yes,  it 
does  often  seem  so.  Christian  workers  come 
to  the  point  where  they  are  not  wanted. 
They  are  too  old  to  work  and  too  young  to 
rest,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  place  for  them. 
All  things  are  irrevocably  clamped  and  welded. 
Up  to  a  certain  point  they  move  in  a  road  with 
its  marked  stages,  and  may  hope  to  pass  from 
one  stage  to  the  other,  but  at  last,  and  earlier 
now  perhaps  than  it  used  to  be,  there  comes 
the  moment  when  all  the  tracks  seem  to  end 
suddenly  in  the  wilderness,  when  there  is  for 
them  no  definite  work,  no  definite  way.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  the  whole  head  should  be 
sick  and  the  whole  heart  faint  ? 

What  then  are  the  remedies  that  grace 
provides  for  the  fainting  spirit  ? 

Let  us  take  first  our  Lord's  kind  word, 
"  Men  ought  always  to  pray  and  not  to  faint," 
as  if  prayer  and  fainting  could  not  exist  to- 
gether. It  seems  simple,  '*  Just  fall  on  your 
knees  and  the  fainting  will  pass  away."     But 


WHA T  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL  ?  309 

it  is  not  so  simple  as  it  seems.  Our  Lord  said, 
'*  Always  to  pray."  He  meant  that  there 
should  always  be  the  aptitude  for  prayer,  the 
bird  not  always  on  the  wing,  but  ready  to  fly 
on  the  instant.  Is  this  easy?  **  O,"  said  a 
German  mystic,  **  that  Nathanael's  fig-tree 
stood  near  every  house,  and  that  all  praying 
souls  might  in  consequence  gain  true  refresh- 
ment in  these  words  of  Christ  speaking  to 
them  after  every  gracious  audience,  *  When 
thou  wast  under  the  fig-tree  I  saw  thee.'" 
But,  as  Coleridge  said,  in  often -quoted  and 
profoundly  true  words,  ''  To  pray  with  all  the 
heart  and  strength,  with  the  reason  and  the 
will,  prayer  with  the  whole  soul  is  the  highest 
energy  of  which  the  human  heart  is  capable." 
Indeed,  he  might  have  said  truly  that  it  is 
impossible  to  the  unaided  spirit.  But  all 
things  are  possible  to  them  that  believe. 
Praying  so,  the  answer  will  come,  will  come 
more  often,  perhaps,  in  our  being  raised  above 
trouble  than  in  the  trouble  being  taken  away, 
more  often,  perhaps,  in  our  being  made 
masters  and  lords  of  our  circumstances    than 


3IO  WHAT  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL? 

in  these  circumstances  changing.  Indeed, 
the  prayer  which  our  Lord  means  is  not  the 
prayer  so  much  of  earthly  ambitions  as  the 
desire  after  the  heavenly  peace.  In  such 
prayer  the  exacting  current  of  earthly  desire 
is  checked,  and  the  heart  is  anchored  to  look 
out  on  the  things  of  time  without  eagerness. 
How  often  has  over- wrought  expectation  in 
every  sphere  defeated  itself!  How  often  has 
true  enjoyment  come  suddenly  from  unexpected 
places  !  When  the  soul  lies  at  anchor  like  a 
moored  barge  on  a  glassy  sea,  then  it  is  appre- 
hended of  Christ  Jesus  and  filled  full  with  a 
freight  of  treasure.  It  would  have  missed  this 
had  it  been  in  full  pursuit,  and  so  when  our 
souls  are  bowed  down  like  reeds  in  the  river, 
not  when  they  are  imperious  and  overcharged, 
does  the  true  life  of  the  spirit  spring  and  it  is 
roused  from  its  fainting. 

Again,  we  are  called  to  labour,  to  toil. 
*'  Be  not  weary  in  well-doing."  It  is  especially 
the  minister's  duty  to  labour,  and  I  think  that 
this  is  the  external  quality  which  our  people 
more  and  more  prize.     They  love  a  labourer. 


WHA  T  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL  ?  311 

They  work  very  hard  themselves,  and  they 
have  a  good  conscience  about  their  work. 
They  do  not  care  to  be  lectured  by  mere 
talkers.  There  must  be  not  only  words, 
however  many,  but  hard  stroke  after  hard 
stroke  till  things  go  right.  There  are  very 
few  of  us  who  appreciate  fully  the  possibilities 
of  labour.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  the 
literary  merits  of  the  first  Lord  Lytton,  nobody 
can  deny  that  he  was  at  least  a  great  worker. 
He  read  and  travelled  and  wrote  much.  He 
mixed  with  society.  He  took  an  active  part 
in  politics.  His  mind  was  one  of  the  most 
versatile  of  his  generation.  Yet  he  tells  us 
himself  that  he  devoted  to  reading  and  writ- 
ing no  more  than  three  hours  a  day,  and  less 
during  the  Parliamentary  session.  ''  But  then," 
he  adds,  *'  during  these  hours  I  have  given  my 
whole  attention  to  what  I  was  about."  People 
are  less  anxious  to  see  new  lights  and  turn 
sharp  corners  than  many  young  ministers 
think.  But  in  time  they  will  come  to  recognise 
and  honour  a  genuine  labourer.  We  are  not 
to  rest  upon  our  labours,  and  no  great  saint 


312  WHAT  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL? 

has  ever  claimed  merit.  They  have  all  died — 
notwithstanding  the  marvellous  results  of  their 
ministry — trusting  to  mere  mercy.  No  more 
wonderful  work  was  ever  accomplished  since 
the  days  of  the  Apostles  by  one  man  than 
by  John  Eliot,  the  great  apostle  of  the  Indians. 
And  yet  It  was  he  who  said  at  the  end  of  his 
long  life,  a  life  crowded  with  labour,  "  My 
doings  have  been  poor  and  small  and  lean 
doings,  and  I  will  be  that  man  who  shall  throw 
the  first  stone  at  them  all."  Yet  even  as  the 
sweetest  sleep  Is  the  sleep  thoroughly  earned 
by  work,  I  think  It  may  comfort  us  at  the  last 
If  we  are  able  to  reflect  that  we  have  toiled 
with  continual  Industry.  The  best  day,  the 
happiest  day.  Is  the  day  when  every  hour  and 
even  every  fragment  of  an  hour  is  estimated 
with  a  most  scrupulous  care  until  all  the  pro- 
gramme of  work  is  accomplished,  and  it  is 
marvellous  how  in  labour  the  torments  of  the 
spirit  are  scattered.  "  My  Father  worketh 
hitherto,  and  I  work,"  said  Christ,  and  the 
labourer  understands  the  union. 

Again,   we    are   to  believe  in  the   reaping. 


WHA T  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL  ?  313 

We  shall  reap  in  due  season  If  we  faint  not. 
We  must  take  the  assurance  of  God's  Word — 

If  faith  came  not  to  hold  our  hand 
How  weary  we  should  be  ! 

We  shall  reap  In  due  season  if  we  faint  not. 
How  many  faint  on  the  edge  of  the  reaping. 
They  give  up  just  when  the  reaping  is 
almost  due.  *'  Beware  of  resignations,"  said  a 
wise  man.  Before  the  happy  realisations  of 
usefulness  in  this  life  there  is  often  a  period  of 
conflict.  Something  goes  wrong  in  the  church. 
There  may  be  sharp  trials  and  a  strong  tempta- 
tion to  escape  from  it  all.  That  is  the  very 
time  to  hold  on.  There  are  ministerial  suicides 
from  sheer  impatience.  Read  the  great  argu- 
ment of  St.  Paul  on  the  resurrection,  and 
wonder  at  the  apparent  tameness  into  which 
it  sinks.  "  Wherefore,  my  beloved  brethren, 
be  ye  steadfast,  immovable,  always  abounding 
in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  forasmuch  as  ye  know 
that  your  labour  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord." 
Is  this  merely  to  say  that  because  there  is 
a    resurrection    their    work    will    be    no    more 


314  WHAT  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL? 

vain  than  Christ's  work  and  the  ministry  of 
Apostles  ?  Surely  there  is  something  more 
than  that.  Into  each  field,  the  field  of  death 
and  the  field  of  labour,  the  seed  is  being  con- 
tinually cast.  Little,  it  may  be,  springs  from 
the  fields  of  labour,  but  remember,  only  the 
first  fruits  have  sprung  from  the  field  of  death, 
and  all  appearances  are  frost  and  ice.  Never 
was  there  a  field  so  bleak,  so  dead,  as  that 
field  into  which  the  Hope  of  all  the  harvest 
fell.  Yet  that  field  is  to  rejoice  on  every  side, 
and  even  so  this  other  field,  so  parched  some- 
times, so  bleak,  so  bare,  is  to  blossom  as  the 
rose. 

Again,  remember  that  the  object  of  God's 
dealings  with  us  is  to  achieve  character.  His 
supreme  object  is  not  to  make  us  useful,  but 
to  make  us  good.  It  is  by  suffering  that  we 
learn  to  sympathise.  Not  all  suffering  does 
this  by  any  means,  but  all  suffering  is  meant  to 
teach  it  to  the  Christian.  In  the  deep  sorrows 
of  life  we  gain  little  comfort  from  any  one  who 
has  not  been  stricken,  smitten  of  God,  and 
afflicted.      But  if  we  despise  the  chastening  of 


IVHA T  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL ?  315 

the  Lord  and  take  it  too  lightly,  or  faint 
when  we  are  rebuked  of  Him  and  take  it  too 
heavily,  then  the  purpose  of  God's  dealing 
has  been  missed.  *'  Consider  Him  that  en- 
dured such  contradiction  of  sinners  against 
Himself"— 

His  way  was  much  rougher  and  darker  than  mine, 
Did  Jesus  thus  suffer,  and  shall  I  repine  ? 

It  is  He  that  is  exalted  on  high  to  succour 
us.  Faith  is  the  vision  of  the  Absolute  ;  faith 
is  looking  to  the  Ideal  as  our  own  reinforce- 
ment against  sinking.  Christian  ministers  are 
to  be  no  dainty,  protected  persons.  They  are 
to  be  as  Christ  was  in  the  world,  and  face  in  a 
measure  His  discouragements  until  the  last 
track  of  the  road  into  the  wide  country  of 
sorrow  has  ceased.  But  He  has  gone  first  and 
alone.  We  see  His  footprints  stretching  away 
into  the  farthest  darkness,  farther  than  our 
eyes  can  follow.     Consider  Him. 

All  this  means  that  it  is  grace  that  counter- 
acts and  reverses  the  work  of  time,  and  that 
under  free  grace  we  need  not  grow  old. 


3i6  WHAT  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL? 

Spring  still  makes  spring  in  the  mind 

When  sixty  years  are  told, 
Love  wakes  anew  this  throbbing  heart, 

And  we  are  never  old. 

Over  the  winter  glaciers 

I  see  the  summer  glow, 
And  through  the  wild  piled  snowdrift 

The  warm  rosebuds  below. 

We  need  not  even  find  the  noontide  heavy. 
We  may  be  bright  and  fresh  to  the  last,  never 
stranded  or  worn  out.  However  exhausted 
we  may  feel  many  times — and  I  suppose  there 
are  few  who  do  not  understand  what  it  is  to 
feel  at  the  end  of  a  week's  work  that  the  last 
word  has  been  said — we  are  to  have  recourse 
to  the  Holy  Spirit  that  out  of  us  may  flow 
rivers  of  living  water.  Let  us  not  expect  that 
this  ministry  will  be  a  Christian  ministry  if  It 
is  without  the  mark  of  the  nails.  It  is  broken 
sunshine  at  the  best  that  we  shall  have,  and 
it  must  be  so.  Even  St.  Paul  was  perplexed 
and  cast  down,  and  could  not  speak  when  the 
door  at  Troas  was  opened  to  him.  **  I  had  no 
rest  in  my  spirit  because  I  found  not  Titus  my 


WHAT  IS  OUR  CHIEF  PERIL?  317 

brother."  We  shall  go  to  rest  each  of  us  with 
the  heart  scarred  like  a  soldier's  body,  and 
there  will  ever  be  fresh  wounds  till  we  have 
laid  the  throbbing  head  down  in  death — 

And  at  the  Eternal  gate 
With  our  cross  have  entered, 
Where  we  were  used  to  wait. 


SUGGESTIONS    TOWARDS   AN 
ETHICAL    UNION  ^ 

Although  I  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  decline 
the  high  honour  implied  in  the  invitation  to 
address  this  Society,  I  was  conscious  from  the 
first,  and  have  never  been  more  conscious  than 
at  this  moment,  of  the  extreme  difficulty  in- 
volved in  the  task.  With  much  that  I  say 
you  will  inevitably  disagree.  More  than  that, 
I  shall  probably  be  greatly  mistaken  in  various 
judgments  affecting  the  Church  of  England. 
I  do  not  profess  to  speak  for  Nonconformists 
generally ;  but  I  think  I  am  right  in  saying 
that  the  attitude  of  a  large  and  influential  part 
of  the  Church  of  England  towards  them  and 
their   work  is  a  subject  of  deep  and   wistful 

^  Read    before  a  society  of  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England 
in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber,  Westminster,  June  26,  1899. 

?i8 


SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION    319 

perplexity.  The  characteristic  ideas  of  the 
High  Church  party,  so  far  from  making  their 
way  in  Nonconformity,  are  hardly  understood. 
Nonconformist  ministers  and  people  in  larger 
or  smaller  numbers  secede  to  the  Church  of 
England.  They  have  various  reasons  to  give 
for  their  change.  Many  of  them  honestly 
prefer  your  form  of  service  ;  many  of  them  had 
rather  be  associated  with  your  people  than 
with  those  among  whom  they  were  born. 
The  preference  of  individual  ministries  also 
counts  for  much.  But  I  have  never  known  a 
case  of  secession,  though  such  there  are, 
brought  about  by  a  genuine  acceptance  of  the 
Divine  and  exclusive  claim  of  the  Church  and 
its  apostolic  ministry.  Though,  as  I  think. 
Nonconformist  views  of  the  Lord's  Supper  are 
more  and  more  approximating  to  the  teaching 
of  Calvin,  it  would  be  wrong  to  say  that  they 
are  in  any  way  identical  with  those  of  the 
advanced  party  in  the  Church  of  England.  I 
doubt  whether  a  Nonconformist  teacher  has 
ever  contended  that  the  sacraments  should  be 
exempted  at  any  point  from  the  law  of  moral 


320    SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION 

action.  Owing  to  various  circumstances  also 
the  public  differences  between  us  do  not 
diminish,  and  at  this  time  they  threaten  to 
become  more  acute.  All  the  same,  Noncon- 
formists regard  much  in  the  Church  of  England 
with  profound  veneration  and  gratitude.  They 
are  debtors  to  your  great  saints  and  doctors 
of  the  past  and  the  present.  They  recognise 
the  grandeur,  the  richness,  the  beauty,  the 
earnest,  solemn  religiousness  which  mark  the 
great  literature  of  the  Church  of  England. 
They  are  aware  of  the  immense  purchase 
which  many  circumstances  give  you.  They 
recognise  you  as  trustees  with  a  tremendous 
responsibility,  as  the  Church  which  in  our 
country  is  responsible  in  a  large  degree  for  the 
aristocracy,  and  is  endowed  with  opportunities 
from  which  a  Dissenter  is  barred.  But  they 
find  it  very  hard  to  understand  how  you 
account  for  and  deal  with  the  existence  of 
earnest  religion  and  self-sacrificing  devotion 
outside  of  yourselves.  Without  entering  into 
statistical  controversy,  it  will  be  admitted  that 
Dissent  is  visible   in  England.     One  body  of 


SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION    321 

Dissenters  is  to  raise  a  Twentieth  Century 
Fund  of  ^1,000,000.  The  money  will  be 
given,  and  it  will  not  be  contributed  by  a 
phantom  army. 

So  far  as  I  know,  your  leading  writers  have, 
as  a  rule,  shunned  this  question.  I  count 
myself  very  happy  in  being  able  to  discover 
the  views  of  such  men  as  William  Archer 
Butler  and  Dean  Church.  Archer  Butler  was 
one  of  the  greatest  and  most  fascinating  figures 
that  have  ever  appeared  in  the  Church  of 
Ireland.  His  brilliant  and  unresting  career 
was  soon  ended,  for  he  died  at  the  age  of 
thirty-four.  He  seems  to  have  felt  all  through 
that  his  life  was  not  to  be  long.  The  convic- 
tion did  not  sadden  him.  He  was  witty, 
brilliant,  and  gay.  Above  all  things  he  was 
laborious,  alike  in  obscure  work  and  in  promi- 
nent. He  filled  with  faithful  toil  years  whose 
passing  he  watched  with  a  solemn  gladness, 
not  blind  to  the  greatness  and  loveliness  of 
the  world,  but  ever  conscious  of  its  ruin,  its 
vanity,  its  impending  close.  He  was  patient 
and  just  and   kind,  as  one  who  even  in   the 


324    SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION 

head,  but  the  principle  was  not  to  be  extended 
to  a  society.  Thus,  he  says,  every  single 
member  of  a  schismatic  congregation  may  be 
made  a  member  of  Christ  and  registered  in 
heaven  as  a  member  of  the  Church  which  is 
His  body,  and  yet  the  congregation  as  such 
may  exist  in  direct  opposition  to  His  will, 
because  in  opposition  to  that  blessed  society 
by  which  He  originally  purposed  to  dispense 
His  graces.  I  do  not  know  of  any  facing  of 
the  subject  equally  frank  and  candid.  Whether 
it  will  carry  conviction  is  quite  another  matter, 
but  Nonconformists  and  Anglicans  alike  will 
read  with  peculiar  interest  the  views  of  such 
men  as  Church  and  Butler. 

What  then  is  the  amount  of  co-operation 
that  is  possible  between  us  ?  On  the  principles 
I  have  mentioned,  principles  which  I  take  to 
represent  the  limit  of  concesssion  on  the  High 
Church  side,  it  is  manifest  that  there  can  be 
no  express  and  personal  fellowship  in  the 
ministration  of  the  Word  and  sacraments. 
I  understand  how  on  these  principles  objec- 
tion   may  be    taken   to    the    appearance   of  a 


SUGGESTIONS  TOIVARDS  ETHICAL  UNION    325 

Nonconformist  in  an  Anglican  pulpit,  although 
I  see  less  clearly  why  Anglicans  should  not 
appear  in  Nonconformist  pulpits.  I  do  not 
suppose  that  High  Churchmen  will  adopt 
the  exegesis  of  a  brilliant  and  eccentric 
member  of  their  party,  who  said  that  the 
preaching  of  Dissenters  in  Anglican  pulpits 
was  expressly  forbidden  in  the  text,  ''If  so 
much  as  a  beast  touch  the  mountain,  it  shall 
be  stoned,  or  thrust  through  with  a  dart." 
Happily  there  is  much  co-operation  between  us 
that  does  not  depend  on  any  ecclesiastical 
legislation.  Whenever  a  Churchman  is  serving 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  he  is  confederate 
with  all  the  Dissenters,  of  whatever  name, 
who  are  doing  the  work  of  Christ.  And  I 
have  not  observed  that  High  Church  theories 
have  prevented  the  co-operation  of  Churchmen 
and  Nonconformists  in  the  great  task  of 
vindicating  and  interpreting  to  our  generation 
God's  revelation  of  Himself  to  man.  We  are 
all  more  than  ever  agreed  that  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  revealed  truth,  and  that  Chris- 
tianity lives  upon  truth  and  not  upon  falsehood. 


324    SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION 

head,  but  the  principle  was  not  to  be  extended 
to  a  society.  Thus,  he  says,  every  single 
member  of  a  schismatic  congregation  may  be 
made  a  member  of  Christ  and  registered  in 
heaven  as  a  member  of  the  Church  which  is 
His  body,  and  yet  the  congregation  as  such 
may  exist  in  direct  opposition  to  His  will, 
because  in  opposition  to  that  blessed  society 
by  which  He  originally  purposed  to  dispense 
His  graces.  I  do  not  know  of  any  facing  of 
the  subject  equally  frank  and  candid.  Whether 
it  will  carry  conviction  is  quite  another  matter, 
but  Nonconformists  and  Anglicans  alike  will 
read  with  peculiar  interest  the  views  of  such 
men  as  Church  and  Butler. 

What  then  is  the  amount  of  co-operation 
that  is  possible  between  us  }  On  the  principles 
I  have  mentioned,  principles  which  I  take  to 
represent  the  limit  of  concesssion  on  the  High 
Church  side,  it  is  manifest  that  there  can  be 
no  express  and  personal  fellowship  in  the 
ministration  of  the  Word  and  sacraments. 
I  understand  how  on  these  principles  objec- 
tion   may  be    taken   to    the   appearance   of  a 


SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION    325 

Nonconformist  in  an  Anglican  pulpit,  although 
I  see  less  clearly  why  Anglicans  should  not 
appear  in  Nonconformist  pulpits.  I  do  not 
suppose  that  High  Churchmen  will  adopt 
the  exegesis  of  a  brilliant  and  eccentric 
member  of  their  party,  who  said  that  the 
preaching  of  Dissenters  in  Anglican  pulpits 
was  expressly  forbidden  in  the  text,  **  If  so 
much  as  a  beast  touch  the  mountain,  it  shall 
be  stoned,  or  thrust  through  with  a  dart." 
Happily  there  is  much  co-operation  between  us 
that  does  not  depend  on  any  ecclesiastical 
legislation.  Whenever  a  Churchman  is  serving 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  he  is  confederate 
with  all  the  Dissenters,  of  whatever  name, 
who  are  doing  the  work  of  Christ.  And  I 
have  not  observed  that  High  Church  theories 
have  prevented  the  co-operation  of  Churchmen 
and  Nonconformists  in  the  great  task  of 
vindicating  and  interpreting  to  our  generation 
God's  revelation  of  Himself  to  man.  We  are 
all  more  than  ever  agreed  that  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  revealed  truth,  and  that  Chris- 
tianity lives  upon  truth  and  not  upon  falsehood. 


326    SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION 

We  all  desire  to  face  the  facts.  We  all  refuse 
to  derive  consolation  from  lies.  You  will 
remember  Renan's  praise  of  the  Magdalene  : 
"  Her  great  womanly  affirmation,  '  He  is 
risen ! '  has  been  the  basis  of  the  faith  of 
humanity.  Away,  impotent  reason  !  If  wisdom 
refuses  to  console  this  poor  human  race 
betrayed  by  fate,  let  folly  attempt  the  enter- 
prise. Where  is  the  sage  who  has  given  so 
much  joy  to  the  world  as  the  possessed  Mary 
of  Magdala }  "  Renan  was  out  of  temper 
with  Colenso  for  saying  so  much  as  he  did, 
and  praised  the  Catholic  priests  who  ministered 
and  disbelieved.  "  How  many  discreet  tombs 
round  village  churches  conceal  just  as  many 
poetic  reserves  and  angelic  silences  !  "  Dogma, 
says  Renan,  will  become  a  mysterious  ark 
which  people  will  agree  never  to  open,  and 
if  the  ark  is  empty  what  does  it  matter  ?  But 
we  none  of  us,  Churchmen  or  Nonconformists, 
believe  in  assimilating  the  ark  of  one  faith  to 
the  ark  of  another  by  the  gradual  emptying 
out  of  all  the  contents,  till  at  last  they  all 
contain  the  same  thing,  that  is,  a  vacuum.    We 


SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION    327 

may  be  profoundly  persuaded  that  what  we 
know  is  nothing  to  what  we  do  not  know, 
but  we  must  have  light  in  our  dwellings, 
however  vast  and  awful  the  darkness  may 
be  which  encompasses  them.  Churchmen  of 
all  schools  recognise  the  work  of  Noncon- 
formists in  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
in  dogmatic  theology,  and  in  other  regions 
pertinent  to  the  work  of  the  Church.  My 
own  conviction  is  that  our  best  hope  is  in 
this  direction,  and  that  through  the  efforts 
of  open-minded  and  unwearying  students  lies 
our  best  prospect  of  reaching  unity  by  under- 
standing at  last  what  is  the  normal  Christian 
faith. 

If  I  am  not  mistaken,  Nonconformists  are 
chiefly  puzzled,  and  to  some  extent  irritated, 
because  of  the  lack  of  co-operation  between 
them  and  Churchmen  on  great  ethical  ques- 
tions. They  cannot  understand  why  there 
should  be  a  Nonconformist  conscience.  They 
think  there  should  be  a  Christian  conscience, 
and  that  there  should  be  an  organisation  of 
all    Christians   strong   enough    to    make    that 


328     SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION 

conscience  prevail  in  the  land.  They  under- 
stand that  on  certain  ethical  problems  Church- 
men and  Nonconformists  may  be  divided. 
They  do  not  understand  why,  when  conviction 
is  not  divided,  the  two  consciences  should  not 
coalesce,  and  do  their  work  as  a  unity.  They 
view  with  a  half-humble,  half-amused  patience 
many  claims  to  superiority.  They  can  under- 
stand the  theory  of  a  priesthood,  and  what 
follows  from  it,  if  their  own  minds  do  not 
move  that  way.  They  can  partly  understand 
what  seems  to  them  a  certain  social  arrogance. 
They  are  willing  to  believe  that  their  want  of 
culture  may  make  it  difficult  for  Anglicans  to 
associate  with  them  on  equal  terms.  One 
thing  'they  thoroughly  understand,  and  that 
is  that  Anglicans  may  be  as  convinced,  as 
earnest,  and  as  free  from  self-seeking  in 
desiring  the  establishment  of  the  Church  as 
Nonconformists  believe  themselves  to  be  in 
desiring  its  disestablishment.  But  I  confess  a 
bitter  chill  sometimes  comes  over  our  minds 
when  we  have  to  fight  our  battles  against 
potent  evils   amidst   the  absolute   silence  and 


SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION    329 

indifference  of  those  who  as  allies  might  carry 
the  cause  to  victory. 

No  doubt  there  are  explanations.  The 
great  obstacle  to  moral  reform  is  that  this  is 
a  day  of  trial  and  not  a  day  of  judgment. 
Questions  are  so  interlaced  and  complicated. 
Good  and  evil  are  so  closely  mixed,  the  wheat 
and  the  tares  are  so  inextricably  tangled,  that 
it  is  often  hard  for  us  to  recognise  our  foe. 
If  we  could  but  see  Antichrist!  There  would 
be  no  difficulty  then  in  closing  for  the  last 
struggle.  You  will  remember  the  suggestive 
lines  of  Clough — 

Oh  that  the  armies  indeed  were  arrayed  !     Oh  joy  of  the 

onset ! 
Sound,  thou  Trumpet  of  God  !     Come  forth,  Great  Cause, 

to  array  us  ! 
King  and  leader  appear !      Thy  soldiers   sorrowing  seek 

thee  ! 
Would  that  the  armies  indeed  were  arrayed  !     Oh  where  is 

the  battle  ? 
Neither  battle  I  see,  nor  arraying,  nor  King  in  Israel, 
Only  infinite  jumble,  and  mess,  and  dislocation. 
Backed    by  a  solemn  appeal,    "  For   God's   sake    do   not 

stir  there !  " 


330    SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION 

Ours,  said  an  acute  observer,  is  a  day  of 
confused  good  and  evil,  of  faith  in  doubt  and 
doubt  in  faith,  of  purity  in  sensualism  and 
sensualism  in  purity,  of  selfishness  in  self- 
denial  and  self-denial  in  selfishness.  This  is  a 
true  witness,  and  yet,  as  it  seems  to  me,  there 
is  pressing  need  for  a  scheme  of  ethical  co- 
operation between  professing  Christians  in 
England. 

Our  ethic  we  all  desire  to  be  Christian — 
not  merely  theistic,  but  based  on  the  Incarna- 
tion and  Redemption  of  the  Son  of  God.  It 
is  this  we  are  often  tempted  to  forget. 

1  have  aspired  to  know  the  might  of  God, 
As  if  the  story  of  His  love  was  furled. 

Nor  sacred  foot  the  grasses  e'er  had  trod 
Of  this  redeemed  world  : — 

Have  sunk  my  thoughts  as  lead  into  the  deep, 
To  grope  for  that  abyss  whence  evil  grew, 

And  spirits  of  ill,  with  eyes  that  cannot  weep, 
Hungry  and  desolate  flew  ; 

As  if  their  legions  did  not  one  day  crowd 

The  death-pangs  of  the  Conquering  Good  to  see  ! 

As  if  a  sacred  head  had  never  bowed 
In  death  for  man — for  me  ! 


SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION    331 

One  of  the  most  marked  features  of  our 
time  is  the  severance  between  the  Church  and 
the  literary  and  journalistic  world.  I  can 
speak  only  of  those  whom  I  know,  but  I  have 
done  my  best  to  discover  the  real  facts,  and 
my  conviction  is  that  alienation  is  very  nearly 
complete.  This  does  not  mean  that  authors 
and  journalists  are  non-Christians.  Many  of 
them  are  Christians  of  an  earnest  and  undog- 
matic  kind.  But  they  find  no  attraction  for 
them  in  the  Churches,  of  whatever  name.  They 
are  not  moved  by  the  opinion  of  the  Church, 
and  they  reject,  often  in  silence,  much  that  in 
the  Churches  passes  as  undoubted  and  primary 
truth.  This  tendency,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  is 
increasing.  We  had  till  lately  one  great 
journalist  in  the  secular  press  who  was  also  a 
potent  Christian  teacher.  Of  the  battles  that  are 
on  us  I  think  the  most  important  is  that  which 
involves  Christian  purity  and  the  Christian  law 
of  marriage.  We  shall  do  well  to  be  careful 
and  discriminating  in  our  talk  on  this  subject. 
There  is  a  revolt  against  the  law  of  Christ 
which  does  not  by  any  means  proceed  from 


332     SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION 

mere  passion,  from  vagrant  lust.  It  is  the 
conviction  of  many  serious  persons  that 
marriage  ought  to  be  considered  as  an  experi- 
ment. They  do  not  deny  that  the  ideal 
marriage  is  for  life  ;  they  do  not  question  that 
such  a  marriage  is  a  scource  of  the  richest 
happiness.  But  they  say  that  men  and  women 
marry  and  find  that  their  minds  are  incompatible, 
that  there  is  no  true  companionship  between 
them  ;  and  they  maintain  that  one  experiment 
is  not  to  be  held  final,  that  two  lives  should 
not  be  spoiled  for  one  mistake,  and  that  each 
should  be  free  on  fair  trial  to  seek  a  more 
fitting  mate.  They  are  not  without  a  keen 
perception  of  the  enormous  difificulties,  the 
difficulties  about  children,  the  cases  where  one 
may  go  on  loving  passionately  while  the  other 
has  ceased  to  care,  or  has  even  begun  to  hate. 
They  admit  the  fact  of  remorse,  but  one  of  our 
great  recent  writers  has  said  that  remorse  is 
an  impure  passion,  and  I  believe  that  they 
would  argue  generally  that  much  of  the  suffer- 
ing that  attends  separation  is  suffering  caused 
by  the  conventions  and  prejudices  of  society, 


SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION    333 

and  that  when  these  disappear  the  conse- 
quences which  now  follow  will  follow  no  longer. 
They  maintain  already  that  in  parts  of  America 
where  the  public  sentiment  is  decisively  in 
favour  of  separation,  there  is  no  such  suffering 
as  exists  here.  Those  who  are  in  the  habit 
of  reading  current  fiction  cannot  mistake  the 
tendency  on  this  subject.  Writers  on  George 
Eliot,  I  venture  to  think,  have  overlooked 
the  great  influence  which  her  translation 
of  Feuerbach's  Essence  of  Christianity  must 
have  had  on  her  own  course  of  action.  But 
though  that  famous  writer  acted  for  herself,  she 
absolutely  refused  to  discuss  the  question  for 
others.  It  would  not  be  true  to  say  that  she 
left  it  untouched.  The  fact  is,  she  did  every- 
thing as  a  writer  that  she  could  do  to  enforce 
the  conventional  idea  of  marriage.  But  she 
never  owned  that  she  had  committed  an  error, 
and  the  views  with  which  she  justified  her  own 
course  of  life  are  now  being  openly  expressed, 
are  being  spread  widely,  and  are  profoundly, 
though  quietly,  affecting  both  men  and  women. 
I  will  not  speak  of  the  increasing  tendency  to 


334    SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION 

publish  books  which  a  generation  ago  would 
have  been  banned  or  might  have  been  the 
subject  of  criminal  proceedings.  I  will  only 
say  with  your  own  Dean  Church  that  purity 
is  a  virtue  created  by  Christianity  and  which 
Christianity  alone  can  save,  and  I  venture  to 
add  that  it  is  a  virtue  for  which  Christianity 
will  one  of  these  days  have  to  fight  a  great 
battle. 

There  are  other  subjects  which  I  will 
touch.  There  is  the  great  question  of  the  day 
of  rest.  Christian  ministers  taking  up  such 
a  subject  are  often  taunted  with  a  desire  to 
preserve  their  own  supremacy.  It  is  said 
that  they  are  afraid  their  churches  may  be 
emptied.  When  the  fight  against  seven-day 
journalism  was  going  on,  an  American  lady 
said  to  me  that  the  Sunday  papers  of  America 
had  done  more  to  empty  the  churches  there 
than  all  other  things  put  together.  We  need 
not  be  moved  overmuch  by  taunts,  but  we 
must  take  care  not  to  fight  for  certain  theories 
of  the  Lord's  Day,  whether  we  hold  them  or 
not.     There  is  plenty  of  common  ground,  and 


SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION    335 

I  believe  it  is  quite  possible  to  convince  the 
British  public  that  the  day  of  rest  is  worth 
keeping.  The  recent  victory  was  due  to  the 
co-operation  of  Christians  of  every  name,  and 
it  is  in  this  way,  and  in  no  other  way,  that  we 
can  resist  the  increasing  inroads  that  are  sure 
to  be  made.  In  this  sphere,  as  in  all  the 
moral  sphere,  no  victory  is  to  be  called  final. 
I  shall  touch  only  in  the  slightest  way  upon 
the  problems  involved  in  the  maintenance  and 
enlargement  of  our  empire,  questions  on  which 
I  admit  there  may  be  an  honest  difference  of 
opinion  between  earnest  Christian  men.  All 
will  agree,  however,  that  the  problems  are 
exceedingly  grave,  and  that  they  are  problems 
which  will  never  be  satisfactorily  solved  until 
the  whole  strength  of  the  Christian  conscience 
is  turned  upon  them.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
problem  of  capital  and  labour,  which  sleeps  for 
a  little  at  times,  but  which  is  ever  waking 
again.  It  is  a  problem  far  more  complicated, 
far  more  delicate,  than  partisans  are  apt  to 
suppose.  It  is  easy  to  abuse  employers,  easy 
to  insist  that  they  should  act  on  the  principles 


338    SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL   UNION 

reference  to  the  temperance  problem.  No  Chris- 
tian can  be  satisfied  with  its  present  position. 
No  Christian  can  be  satisfied  with  the 
present  power  of  the  drink-trade  in  the  State. 
Yet  whenever  it  comes  to  action  it  seems  as  if 
we  were  hopelessly  divided.  I  think  temper- 
ance reformers  of  the  old  school  are  generally- 
more  willing  than  they  were  to  accept  the 
smallest  instalment  of  reform.  But  you  can- 
not expect  them  to  support  what  they  believe 
is  not  reform,  but  serious  and  fatal  retrogres- 
sion. We  may  adjourn  the  question  as  to 
whether  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Church  to  abolish 
the  ordinary  use  of  alcohol.  That  may  wait  : 
but  there  is  the  question  whether  municipal 
management  of  the  liquor-traffic  can  be 
adopted.  Some  of  us  find  it  very  hard  to  give 
an  answer.  What  we  do  see  very  clearly  is 
that  those  who  believe  that  the  effect  of  such 
management  will  be  to  entrench  and  fortify 
and  make  respectable  a  trade  they  think 
intrinsically  evil,  must  of  necessity  range  them- 
selves against  it.  Something,  however,  can 
be  done,  and  done  at  once.     Mr.  T.  W.  Russell, 


SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION    339 


at  a  recent  meeting,  turned  to  some  of  your 
representatives  and  said  vehemently  that 
whenever  the  Church  of  England  chose,  and 
no  sooner,  something  could  be  done  in  temper- 
ance legislation,  and  surely  the  time  is  near 
when  a  measure  of  Sunday  closing  should  be 
passed. 

In  conclusion,  I  have  great  hope  of  ethical 
reform,  and  that  hope  is  a  hope  in  God. 
Might  I  call  it  a  hope  in  God  and  in  His  seven 
thousand  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to 
Baal }  Let  a  moral  crisis  come,  and  you  see 
what  reserves  march  up  to  defend  the  right. 
If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ? 
This  holds  true  even  when  everything  around 
is  darkness.  Perhaps  the  blackest  hour  in 
America  was  that  in  which  John  Brown,  the 
abolitionist,  died.  Slavery  culminated  as  he 
breathed  his  last,  but  the  grand  old  man,  seeing 
through  and  over  the  darkness,  said  as  he  went 
to  his  doom,  "  I  am  sure  I  am  of  more  use  to 
hang  than  for  any  other  purpose,"  and  kissed 
in  pure  affection  a  little  negro  as  he  neared 
the  scaffold.     You  all  know  what   happened. 


338    SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL   UNION 

reference  to  the  temperance  problem.  No  Chris- 
tian can  be  satisfied  with  its  present  position. 
No  Christian  can  be  satisfied  with  the 
present  power  of  the  drink-trade  in  the  State. 
Yet  whenever  it  comes  to  action  it  seems  as  if 
we  were  hopelessly  divided.  I  think  temper- 
ance reformers  of  the  old  school  are  generally- 
more  willing  than  they  were  to  accept  the 
smallest  instalment  of  reform.  But  you  can- 
not expect  them  to  support  what  they  believe 
is  not  reform,  but  serious  and  fatal  retrogres- 
sion. We  may  adjourn  the  question  as  to 
whether  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Church  to  abolish 
the  ordinary  use  of  alcohol.  That  may  wait : 
but  there  is  the  question  whether  municipal 
management  of  the  liquor-traffic  can  be 
adopted.  Some  of  us  find  it  very  hard  to  give 
an  answer.  What  we  do  see  very  clearly  is 
that  those  who  believe  that  the  effect  of  such 
management  will  be  to  entrench  and  fortify 
and  make  respectable  a  trade  they  think 
intrinsically  evil,  must  of  necessity  range  them- 
selves against  it.  Something,  however,  can 
be  done,  and  done  at  once.     Mr.  T.  W.  Russell, 


SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION    339 

at  a  recent  meeting,  turned  to  some  of  your 
representatives  and  said  vehemently  that 
whenever  the  Church  of  England  chose,  and 
no  sooner,  something  could  be  done  in  temper- 
ance legislation,  and  surely  the  time  is  near 
when  a  measure  of  Sunday  closing  should  be 
passed. 

In  conclusion,  I  have  great  hope  of  ethical 
reform,  and  that  hope  is  a  hope  in  God. 
Might  I  call  it  a  hope  in  God  and  in  His  seven 
thousand  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to 
Baal  ?  Let  a  moral  crisis  come,  and  you  see 
what  reserves  march  up  to  defend  the  right. 
If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ? 
This  holds  true  even  when  everything  around 
is  darkness.  Perhaps  the  blackest  hour  in 
America  was  that  in  which  John  Brown,  the 
abolitionist,  died.  Slavery  culminated  as  he 
breathed  his  last,  but  the  grand  old  man,  seeing 
through  and  over  the  darkness,  said  as  he  went 
to  his  doom,  "  I  am  sure  I  am  of  more  use  to 
hang  than  for  any  other  purpose,"  and  kissed 
in  pure  affection  a  little  negro  as  he  neared 
the  scaffold.     You  all   know   what    happened. 


340    SUGGESTIONS  TOWARDS  ETHICAL  UNION 

Slavery  was  soon  swept  away  in  a  storm  of 
fire.  That  storm  arose  when  John  Brown 
paused  on  his  way  to  martyrdom  to  kiss  that 
thick-lipped  child. 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND 
FOSTERS 

I  NEED  hardly  remind  you  that  the  illustrious 
names  of  Hall  and  Foster  are  inseparably  con- 
nected with  the  Bristol  Baptist  College,  and 
with  the  building  in  which  we  are  met. 
Robert  Hall,  who  was  extraordinarily  pre- 
cocious, came  to  the  college  in  1778,  when  he 
was  only  fourteen  years  of  age.  In  1785  he 
became  a  tutor  here,  and  for  the  five  years 
during  which  he  filled  this  office  he  was 
assistant  minister  at  Broadmead  Chapel.  He 
returned  to  Broadmead  in  1825,  and  remained 
minister  of  the  church  till  his  death  in  1830. 
John  Foster  was  a  student  of  this  college 
during    part    of    the    years     1 791 -1792.       He 

^  Address  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  Baptist  College,  Bristol, 
in  Broadmead  Chapel,  September  19,  1899. 

341 


342     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

spent  most  of  his  life  In  its  comparatively  close 
neighbourhood,  and  his  interest  in  the  institu- 
tion never  relaxed.  It  has  been  affectionately 
commemorated  by  two  of  the  students  who  were 
with  us  till  not  long  since,  Dr.  Charles  Stanford 
and  Dr.  Trestrail.  The  last  time  of  Foster's 
appearing  on  any  public  occasion  was  in  June 
1843,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Bristol 
Baptist  College,  when  he  attended,  as  had  been 
his  wont  for  many  preceding  years,  the  theo- 
logical examination.  His  kind  interest  In  the 
students  was  always  particularly  marked,  and 
among  the  tutors  he  found  some  of  his  most 
Intimate  friends.  In  1822  Foster  began  to 
deliver  in  Broadmead  Chapel  the  famous 
"  Lectures,"  which  are  perhaps  among  the 
most  lasting  of  his  productions.  The  chapel, 
as  Dr.  Trestrail  tells  us,  was  then  approached 
by  a  lane,  but  when  reached  presented  an 
imposing  appearance  with  its  fine,  massive 
pillars.  You  are  aware  that  for  many  years 
the  Bristol  College  was  the  only  Baptist 
seminary  in  this  country.  Its  work  and  that 
of    its    alumni    contributed    eminently    to    the 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    343 

revival  of  Christianity  and  Nonconformity 
in  our  land.  Doddridge,  who  wrote  so 
pathetically  on  the  decline  of  the  dissenting 
interest  in  England,  was  hardly  permitted  to 
see  the  break  of  morning,  if  he  was  not  taken 
away  when  the  night  was  at  its  blackest.  But 
through  the  careers  of  Hall  and  Foster,  and 
particularly  towards  the  end,  there  was  a 
marvellous  activity  in  Nonconformity  all  over 
the  country.  New  chapels  were  built  every- 
where, and  were  filled  with  hearers.  When 
Foster  died,  just  after  the  disruption  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  the  position  of  Noncon- 
formity had  been  radically  and  permanently 
altered. 

This  evening  I  propose  not  so  much  to 
give  a  detailed  estimate  of  Hall  and  Foster, 
as  to  indicate  the  points  under  which  they  are 
specially  an  example  for  students.  It  may 
very  well  be — shall  we  not  hope  it  and  pray 
for  it? — that  among  the  students  to-night 
there  may  be  the  Hall  and  the  Foster  of  the 
coming  generation.  No  doubt  for  most  what 
is  called  a  commonplace  career  is  appointed, 


344     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

and  many  times  a  commonplace  career  is 
peculiarly  honourable.  There  is  nothing  more 
sound  and  salutary  in  the  teaching  of  Thacke- 
ray than  his  persistent  inculcation  of  the  fact 
that  the  commonplace  qualities  which  lead  to 
commonplace  success  are  by  no  means  matters 
of  course,  but  require  strenuous,  long-continued 
efforts,  the  results  of  which  are  thoroughly 
worthy  of  respect  and  admiration.  Still,  few 
things  have  struck  me  more  deeply  than  the 
contrast  you  often  see  between  the  eager  and 
enthusiastic  student  and  the  same  man  when 
he  has  been  for  some  years  a  minister.  A 
young  man  will  be  the  light  of  his  class,  the 
hope  of  his  teachers,  full  of  energy  and  bright- 
ness -and  devotion.  Somehow,  circumstances 
prove  too  strong  for  him.  His  curiosity 
ceases,  his  perceptions  are  dulled,  and  he 
seems  to  sit  from  year  to  year  deep  in  a 
quagmire.  It  is  not  our  duty  to  be  ambitious 
in  the  poor  sense,  in  the  sense  of  caring  for 
power  and  position  and  wealth,  but  it  is  our 
duty  to  labour  with  courage  unabated  and 
indomitable    to    make    the   very  best   of  our- 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    345 

selves.  In  this  world  it  cannot  be  said  too 
often  that  it  is  not  enough  to  have  ability. 
You  must  also  have  fight  and  mastery.  A 
man  must  be  hammer  or  anvil,  and  too  many 
make  up  their  minds  early  that  they  will  be 
anvils.  They  almost  part  with  the  belief  that 
they  are  fit  to  do  anything,  or  that  they  owe 
any  duty  to  the  world.  Most  of  us,  in  truth, 
are  able  to  do  very  little,  but  none  of  us 
should  be  satisfied  to  do  less  than  our  best. 
Wherever  you  may  be  placed,  you  have  the 
opportunity  of  proving  yourselves.  Every- 
where you  will  have  at  least  what  Isaac  Taylor 
calls  "  the  little  study,  the  blessed  place  of 
your  converse  with  all  minds  and  with 
heaven."  Use  the  opportunities  within  these 
narrow  walls  and  leave  God  to  judge  whether 
you  are  to  work  on  in  obscurity,  or  whether 
you  are  to  take  your  place  in  the  ranks  of  far- 
shining  men,  in  the  ranks  of  those  whom 
posterity  will  recognise  as  among  the  most 
precious  gifts  of  the  Redeemer  to  His  Church. 
The  present  generation  perhaps  scarcely 
realises  the  great  position  of  Hall  and  Foster, 


346     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

their  wide -spreading  influence  during  their 
lives  and  for  long  after.  In  the  first  half  of 
the  century  there  were  four  English  Noncon- 
formists whose  names  were  known  to  the 
world  of  letters,  and  who  acted  with  almost 
equal  force  upon  those  nearer  to  them  and 
those  more  remote.  These  were  Robert 
Hall,  John  Foster,  Isaac  Taylor,  and  Henry 
Rogers.  Nor  can  there  be  any  doubt  that 
Hall  and  Foster  outshone  Taylor  and  Rogers. 
Between  Hall  and  Foster,  as  preachers,  there 
was  all  the  difference  that  could  exist.  From 
his  boyhood  Hall  was  an  orator  of  overwhelm- 
ing authority.  One  hesitates  to  say  that  any 
gift  is  incommunicable,  but  if  the  adjective 
may  be  applied  at  all  it  may  surely  be  used  of 
oratory.  The  great  orator  is  at  once  one  of 
the  most  powerful  and  one  of  the  rarest  figures 
among  men,  so  rare  is  he  that  at  the  present 
moment  in  this  country  we  have  hardly  one 
left.  There  was  never  any  doubt  of  Hall. 
From  the  outset  he  threw  down  the  most 
formidable  barriers.  In  Cambridge  men  of 
the    highest    rank   and    intellect    went    to   his 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    347 

chapel  as  a  matter  of  course.  Without  seek- 
ing it,  he  became  powerful  in  his  influence 
over  University  circles.  Wherever  he  went 
the  effects  produced  were  the  same,  and  they 
were  all  the  more  remarkable  because  of  the 
utter  unconsciousness  and  unshaken  humility 
of  the  preacher.  Dr.  Vaughan,  in  his  article 
on  John  Foster,  tells  us  that  though  Hall 
began  in  a  low  voice  and  with  frequent 
pauses,  there  was  something  from  the  begin- 
ning which  promised  that  he  would  soon  break 
away  and  expand  and  kindle  with  his  theme. 
This  he  did  with  such  effects  as  are  hardly 
paralleled.  Thrilled  by  excitement,  some  of 
his  hearers  would  rise,  and  it  was  no  un- 
common thing  before  the  close  to  find  his 
congregation  standing  round  him,  bending 
forward  to  catch  every  syllable.  It  is  said  that 
during  the  last  years  of  his  pastorate  in  Broad- 
mead  his  oratory  was  less  imaginative  than  in 
his  early  years.  This  might  well  have  been, 
but  it  is  very  clear  that  it  exercised  its  old 
resistless  charm.  John  Foster  heard  his  friend 
during  this  period,  and   has  written  a  closely 


348     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

critical  essay  on  his  preaching.  Far  more 
significant  is  a  sentence  in  a  letter  written 
immediately  after  Hall's  death,  in  which  Foster 
says,  '*  As  a  preacher  his  like  or  equal  will 
come  no  more."  John  Foster,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  mysteriously  unsuccessful  in  the 
pulpit.  It  is  practically  true  that  he  emptied 
in  the  most  masterly  style  every  chapel  in 
which  he  ministered.  His  congregations  were 
invariably  small  when  he  went  to  them,  and 
invariably  they  grew  smaller  and  smaller,  till 
in  some  cases  they  were  extinguished.  I  say 
it  is  hard  to  understand  how  Foster  could  not 
maintain  a  congregation,  when  so  many  of  his 
inferiors  had  their  chapels  crowded.  Dr. 
Vaughan  tells  us  that  his  elocution  was  not 
unpleasing.  He  did  not  read  his  sermons,  he 
did  not  vary  much  the  tones  of  his  voice,  but  he 
always  aimed  at  being  calmly  earnest,  and  in 
this  he  succeeded.  I  have  sometimes  thought 
that  his  carelessness  in  the  matter  of  pulpit 
preparation  may  partly  account  for  his  failure. 
He  tells  us  of  sitting  up  in  bed  on  Sunday 
morning    to   consider    his    sermon,    and    com- 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    349 

placently  goes  on,  ''  caught  some  considerable 
thoughts."  It  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
he  should  ever  have  been  popular,  but  his 
transcendent,  unequalled,  and  steadily  main- 
tained unpopularity  is  perplexing.  It  is 
scarcely  too  much  to  say  that  among  Baptist 
ministers  of  their  day  Hall  was  the  most 
popular  and  Foster  the  least.  And  yet  it  is 
creditable  to  the  good  sense  and  discernment 
of  the  Churches  that  no  one  doubted  Foster's 
commanding  gifts  ;  in  fact,  he  was  placed  by 
the  discerning  even  above  Hall.  As  Chalmers 
sagaciously  said,  he  "  fetches  his  thoughts  from 
a  deeper  spring."  In  literature  Foster  took  a 
higher  place  than  Hall,  though  Hall's  rank 
was  distinguished.  Hall's  books  may  not  now 
interest  us,  but  they  have  an  impressiveness 
of  their  own.  In  his  orations  w^e  have  one 
thought  evolved  from  another,  falling  like  the 
waves  of  a  fresh  and  flowing  tide,  each  in  turn 
outswelling  the  next  before  it.  From  literary 
men  in  particular  he  commanded  attention  and 
admiration.  I  shall  not  quote  Dugald  Stewart's 
testimony  to  his  style,  for  Hall   put   Stewart 


350     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

very  low  as  a  thinker.  But  Sir  George 
Trevelyan  has  told  us  of  the  pride  and 
pleasure  with  which  Macaulay,  a  warm  ad- 
mirer of  Robert  Hall,  heard  that  the  great 
preacher  had  been  studying  Italian  in  order 
better  to  understand  his  comparison  between 
Dante  and  Milton.  In  the  most  mellow  and 
beautiful  of  his  novels  Bulwer-Lytton  has 
devoted  almost  a  chapter  to  the  life  of  Robert 
Hall.  To  mention  no  more,  W.  R.  Greg,  one 
of  the  ablest  journalists  of  our  time,  and 
certainly  our  greatest  master  of  religious 
reverie,  made  a  peculiarly  affectionate  refer- 
ence to  Robert  Hall  in  almost  his  last  essay. 
Of  Foster's  reputation  as  a  writer  nothing 
need  be  said.  It  was  great  among  English 
Nonconformists,  still  greater  perhaps  among 
Scottish  Presbyterians.  Perhaps  a  careful 
student  will  find  that  Foster  altered  the  whole 
manner  of  writing  among  Scottish  theologians. 
A  present-day  Scotch  divine,  and  one  of  the 
most  distinguished,  has  written  of  his  early 
indebtedness  to  Foster,  and  has  called  him, 
not  unhappily,  "  a  Browning  in  worsted  stock- 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    351 

ings."  The  influence,  however,  went  far 
beyond  theologians,  and  was  recognised  by 
the  highest  minds  of  the  time.  Foster,  in 
the  Eclectic  Review,  championed  with  vehe- 
mence the  cause  of  the  missionaries  against 
the  Edinburgh  Review  and  Sydney  Smith ;  in 
fact,  he  may  have  been  said  to  have  crushed 
Smith  under  an  iron  heel.  Yet  the  editor, 
Jeffrey,  was  so  far  from  resenting  this  that 
through  Dr.  Chalmers  he  invited  Foster  to 
contribute  to  the  Edinburgh,  so  that  the 
Christian  view  of  things  might  be  represented 
there  by  a  great  man  of  letters.  In  Foster's 
biography  there  is  no  reference  to  this  inci- 
dent, nor  does  Foster  appear  to  have  complied 
with  the  invitation.  The  fact  nevertheless 
is  significant.  If  Foster  had  become  an 
Edinburgh  Reviewer,  he  would  have  taken 
rank  with  the  foremost.  His  contributions 
to  the  Eclectic  Review  are  written  with  great 
power,  and  occasionally  with  a  condensed 
weight  of  sarcasm  which  recalls  Tacitus  more 
than  any  modern  writer. 

Let    us    now  look   at    the    sources  of  that 


352     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

influence  which  affected  so  powerfully  both 
the  Church  and  the  world,  affected  both  in  a 
manner  and  to  a  degree  of  which  perhaps  we 
have  had  no  examples  in  the  Christian  Church 
since  Hall  and  Foster  died. 


They  were  students  and  masters  of  style. 
They  perceived  that  the  influence  of  religious 
writers  had  been  narrowed  to  an  almost  incon- 
ceivable degree  by  their  disdain  of  adequate 
and  literary  expression.  They  both  regarded 
with  dislike  the  great  Puritan  theologians.  It 
has  been  disputed  whether  Hall  described 
Owen's  works  as  "  a  continent  of  mud,"  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  thought  so. 
Foster  himself  devoted  one  of  his  most  im- 
portant works  to  the  aversion  of  men  of  taste 
to  evangelical  religion,  and  partly  vindi- 
cated that  aversion,  blaming  theologians  for 
the  barbarous  jargon  in  which  their  thoughts 
were  couched.  Both  of  them  laboured  with 
unceasing    care   to  master    the   instrument  of 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    353 

Style.  Hall  was  more  perhaps  of  a  reader 
than  Foster.  We  are  told  that  he  would  in 
his  youth  carry  on  ^v^  or  six  courses  of  read- 
ing at  a  time.  He  was  a  diligent  student  of 
the  classics,  and  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of 
Demosthenes.  He  made  himself  master  of 
several  languages  that  he  might  come  closer 
to  the  great  writers.  In  his  youth  he  imi- 
tated Johnson,  but  as  time  went  on  his  diction 
became  simpler  and  clearer,  though  never 
lacking  a  certain  massive  pomp.  Among  the 
writers  of  his  age  he  still  stands  out  as  one  of 
the  very  best.  Foster,  though  a  great  reader 
as  readers  go,  did  not  carry  out  his  studies  to 
anything  like  the  extent  of  Hall.  On  the 
other  hand  he  took  the  most  prodigious  pains 
with  his  style.  Any  one  who  will  compare  the 
first  edition  of  his  essays  with  the  second  will 
see  what  tremendous  labour  was  given  to  the 
structure  of  his  sentences  and  the  sharpening 
of  his  phrases.  He  never  attained  to  a  per- 
fectly luminous  and  delicate  expression,  yet 
his  style  lies  close  to  his  thought.     It  is  not 

conventional,  it   is  not  borrowed,  it   is  never 

2  A 


354     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

Otiose.      If  it  fails  in  being  adequate,  that  was 
not  because  he  did  not  take  the  utmost  pains 
to  make  it  so.     We  may  think  that  some  of 
his  canons  were  wrong  ;  we  may  reject  some 
of  his  criticisms  on  Sydney  Smith,  and  beUeve 
that  Smith  as  a  stylist  is  his  superior.     Never- 
theless, it  is  wonderful  to  see  how  the  thought 
lives  through  the   style,  how  original  he  was 
alike    in    thinking   things    and    in    his   way   of 
saying    them.       Even    without    style    Foster 
would    have    made    an    impression.      He   saw 
things  with  his  own  eyes,  and  sat  at  the  foot 
of  no  master.     Undoubtedly,  however.  Hall  and 
Foster  alike  made   their  way  to  readers  out- 
side of  or  indifferent  to  all  Churches,  because 
they  knew  how  to  write  the  English  of  culti- 
vated men.      It  is  only  certain  that  this  was 
one  of  their  most  potent  appeals  to  Noncon- 
formists, and   to   Christians  generally.     They 
had     grown     weary    of    dead     and    withered 
phrases,  once  no  doubt  filled  with  the   blood 
of  life,  but  long  decayed  and  anaemic.     In  this 
they    were    essentially    right,    though     Foster 
undoubtedly  overpressed  the  objection  to  the 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    355 

use  of  Scriptural  language.  It  is  possible  to 
take  a  word  or  a  phrase  even  from  Scripture 
and  by  parrot -like  repetition  to  make  it  in- 
tolerable. But  the  strength  and  beauty  and 
permanence  of  religious  writing  depend  very 
much  on  the  skilful  use  of  Biblical  language. 
The  Scripture  phrases  in  the  hands  of  a  master 
are  like  glistening  threads  of  gold  flashing 
through  the  common  tissue  of  speech.  Even 
in  secular  writing,  as  Mr.  Watts  Dunton  has 
pointed  out,  our  English  translation  of  the 
Bible  has  been  a  potent  force.  It  was  in 
itself  a  new  departure  in  English,  an  adap- 
tation of  English  to  express  the  oriental 
mind,  and  ever  since  its  publication  the  best 
in  English  literature  has  derived  much  of  its 
colour  from  it.  It  is  a  decided  defect  in 
Foster  that  he  uses  so  little  the  phrases  of 
Scripture.  In  this  Hall  was  against  him  both 
in  precept  and  in  practice.  Both  Hall  and 
Foster  did  some  injustice  to  the  English  theo- 
logians. However  careless  they  were  as  to 
style,  there  will  be  found  in  their  writings,  even 
in  Owen's,  nobly  wrought  passages.     It  remains 


356     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 


true,  however,  that  nothing  can  revive  the 
great  works  of  the  Puritans.  They  will 
always  be  appreciated  by  a  certain  class  of 
students,  sought,  however,  not  on  account  of 
their  style,  but  in  spite  of  it. 

It  is  imperative  for  any  religious  writer  in 
these  days  to  understand  English  style,  to 
understand  in  particular  the  style  of  his  own 
day.  Even  a  preacher  in  a  humble  sphere 
will  find  that  he  cannot  do  much  without  a 
copious  vocabulary.  People  may  read  super- 
ficially, but  they  read  a  great  deal.  They  are 
dimly  aware  of  the  intolerable  stress  laid  on 
a  few  words,  particularly  on  a  few  adjectives, 
and  they  resent  it.  You  must  understand 
what  the  great  writers  of  the  time  are  saying, 
and  you  cannot  understand  it  without  being 
a  student  of  style.  I  have  in  my  mind  two 
eminent  apologists  who  died  within  the  last 
ten  years.  They  were  both  of  them  consider- 
able scholars,  and  men  of  much  mental  vigour. 
One  was  liberal  in  his  views,  the  other  con- 
servative. They  spared  no  pains  to  master 
the    reading    of    their    profession,    and    were 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER     357 

acquainted  with  the  best  books,  and  yet  they 
made  no  impression,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  they  did  not  understand  the  real  mean- 
ing of  the  objections  taken  by  modern  culture 
to  Christianity,  Of  course  they  understood 
in  a  sense.  They  could  translate  into  their 
own  limited  Germanised  dialect  the  new  books 
that  were  stirring  the  public  mind.  They 
forgot,  however,  that  in  the  English  language 
as  used  by  masters  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a 
synonym,  and  the  result  was  that  they  made 
nothing  more  than  a  distant  approach  to  the 
minds  they  were  arguing  against.  They  did 
their  reading  as  the  raiders  did  their  dining  ; 
they  "  carved  at  the  meal  in  gloves  of  steel, 
and  drank  the  red  wine  through  the  helmet 
barred."  Further,  they  both  wrote  in  a  style 
practically  unintelligible  to  their  opponents. 
If  your  minds  are  not  to  harden,  you  must 
know  what  is  best  in  current  literature,  in 
poetry,  in  fiction,  in  criticism,  in  every  depart- 
ment. You  must  know  it  so  well  as  that  your 
mind  shall  receive  the  first  sharp  impression 
from  every  writer.      You  must    be  aware   of 


358     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

the  subtle  changes  that  are  always  taking 
place  in  the  use  of  words.  You  must,  if  you 
are  to  win  a  hearing  from  those  who  are  not 
already  convinced,  be  able  to  wield  the 
weapons  of  your  opponents,  to  express  your- 
selves lucidly,  flexibly,  articulately.  There  is 
no  way  to  this  except  the  patient  and  loving 
study  of  our  great  English  literature. 


II 

But  this  power  of  expression  is  useless  for 
a  religious  teacher,  unless  he  uses  it  on  dis- 
tinctive truth.  There  were  Christian  ministers 
before  Hall  and  Foster,  who  assuredly  studied 
the  cfessics  and  the  exemplars  of  style  in  their 
own  age.  Of  these  were  the  Scottish  moder- 
ates, represented,  let  us  say,  by  Blair.  But 
these  men  did  not  apply  their  powers  of  writing 
to  the  heart  of  Christianity.  They  made  no 
attempt  to  translate  its  great  language  ;  in  fact, 
they  very  nearly  deserted  the  Christian  camp. 
They  hung  at  least  upon  its  outskirts,  in 
close    nearness    to  the   purely  moral   teachers 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER     359 

who  preached  an  earthly  ethic.  Its  central 
mysteries  they  entirely  ignored.  Foster  him- 
self would  speak  with  much  contempt  of  Blair's 
feeble  and  washy  platitudes  and  high-sound- 
ing barrenness,  of  his  little  easy  quantity  of 
religion,  about  half  as  pleasant  as  a  game  of 
cards.  He  characterised  his  sermons  as  most 
perfectly  free  from  that  disagreeable  and 
mischievous  property  attributed  to  the  elo- 
quence of  Pericles,  that  it  left  a  sting  behind. 
Hall  and  Foster  were  both  of  them  decidedly 
evangelical.  They  were  not  perhaps  system- 
atic theologians ;  Foster,  at  least,  certainly 
was  not.  But  they  both  held  with  ever-increas- 
ing tenacity  the  glorious  truth  of  the  Substitu- 
tion of  Christ  for  guilty  sinners,  that  truth 
apart  from  which  the  New  Testament  becomes 
merely  a  book  that  has  to  be  explained  away. 
Foster  had  an  extraordinary  sense  of  the 
depravity  of  men.  He  continually  mourned 
and  brooded  over  it.  The  contemplation 
made  life  heavy  for  him,  and  oppressed  him 
sometimes  with  a  deadly  grief,  a  passionate, 
heart-stricken   sadness.      His  doctrine  of  the 


36o     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

Atonement  was  not  strictly  formulated.  It 
was  practically  the  hymn  "Rock  of  Ages" 
turned  into  prose,  with  the  least  possible 
change  in  the  language.  You  will  find  his 
view  of  the  Atonement  best  expressed  in  the 
remarkable  series  of  letters  to  Miss  Sandars, 
a  young  girl  snatched  away  in  the  very  spring- 
tide of  her  early  promise.  Again  and  again 
to  the  close  of  his  life  he  casts  himself  on  mere 
mercy,  not  the  mercy  of  a  good-natured  God, 
but  the  mercy  of  a  God  who  forgives  believing 
sinners  because  Christ  died  for  them.  Hall 
went  further,  and  his  fragment  on  Substitution, 
though  leaving  out  important  considerations, 
is  very  worthy  of  note.  His  luminous  intellect, 
it  may  be  observed,  rejected  the  idea  that  the 
Substitution  of  our  Lord  can  really  be  ex- 
plained by  what  is  known  as  vicarious  suffer- 
ing among  men.  He  saw  clearly  that  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ  was  unique.  To  use  his 
own  words,  **  It  stands  against  the  lapse  of 
ages  and  the  waste  of  worlds,  a  single  and 
solitary  monument.  It  leaves  no  room  for  a 
counterpart  or  a  parallel."      Both  of  them  also 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    361 

believed  intensely  in  the  new  birth.  A  notable 
feature  of  their  sermons  was  their  appeals  and 
applications.  It  is  said  that  Hall  frequently 
never  rose  to  the  majesty  of  his  real  greatness 
until  he  came  to  the  end  of  his  sermons,  and 
prepared  himself  for  the  application.  In  one 
of  Foster's  letters  relating  to  Hall's  ministry 
will  be  found  a  striking  example  of  this.  As 
for  Foster,  his  sermons  seem  sometimes  to 
have  been  practically  one  long  appeal  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end.  It  is  said,  I  do 
not  know  with  what  truth,  that  appeals  are 
now  rarely  heard  from  the  pulpit.  If  this  is 
so,  it  must  arise  from  a  latent  disbelief  in 
the  possible  change  of  the  heart.  Foster, 
in  his  essay  on  Paley's  sermons,  complains 
bitterly  of  the  shortened  and  inanimate  conclu- 
sions of  the  discourses.  It  will  be  felt,  he 
says,  as  if  the  Christian  advocate  cared  not 
how  soon  or  how  tamely  he  dismissed  the 
subject,  as  if  he  had  no  expectation  that  his 
discourse  should  produce  any  effect,  and  as  if 
he  felt  but  little  of  either  sadness  or  indigna- 
tion to  think  that  it  would  fail.     Both  of  them, 


362     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

again,  were  enthusiastic  advocates  of  foreign 
missions.  They  both  saw  clearly  in  the 
days  when  he  was  decried  as  a  consecrated 
cobbler  that  the  name  of  Dr.  Carey  would 
shine  out  as  the  most  splendid  Christian 
name  of  their  generation.  Among  Foster's 
greatest  achievements  were  some  of  his  ser- 
mons preached  for  foreign  missions,  and  he 
devoted  not  a  few  of  the  most  valuable  years  of 
his  life  to  the  vindication  of  the  Serampore 
missionaries.  Both  Hall  and  Foster  were 
filled  with  what  Tennyson  has  called  '*  the 
sacred  passion  of  the  second  life."  They 
had  both  of  them  found  *'  the  deathless  Angel 
seated  in  the  vacant  tomb."  They  were  as 
sure  of  the  life  to  come  as  they  were  of  this. 
Foster  was  all  his  life  consumed  with  the 
desire  to  know  what  was  beyond,  with  a 
burning  and  devouring  impatience  for  that 
knowledge  which  we  must  die  to  possess. 
Hall  was  content  to  wait.  He  realised  far 
more  clearly  than  ever  Foster  did  how  much 
we  really  know.  It  was  characteristic  of  him 
that  he  said  when  dying,   *'  I  have  a   humble 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    363 

hope."  There  was  about  both  at  the  end  a 
strange  dignity  and  a  strange  calm,  no  triumph, 
no  exultation,  but  a  steady  peace.  There  was 
no  moaning  and  there  was  no  song.  The 
river  nearing  the  awful  ocean  dropped  silently 
into  its  bosom.  I  venture  to  think  that  any 
man  whose  vision  of  the  other  life  is  steadily 
certain  and  childlike,  will  not  err  essentially 
in  any  doctrine  of  the  Christian  faith.  With 
Hall  and  Foster  there  was  no  wavering. 

Something,  no  doubt,  may  be  said  in 
reverent  criticism  of  the  defects  in  their 
preaching.  These  imperfections  belong  to  all 
of  us,  while  we  bear  the  image  of  the  earthly 
and  see  darkly  through  a  glass.  The  great 
defect  common  to  both  was  that  they  were  not 
exegetes,  not  expositors  of  the  Scriptures. 
Hall,  especially  in  his  later  ministry,  took 
great  and  fundamental  themes.  Originally  a 
Binitarian,  to  use  the  name  which  Professor 
Sidgwick  has  applied  to  Mr.  Hutton,  he 
became  convinced  of  the  personality  and 
divinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  treated  largely 
of  His  work.     Foster  vehemently  urged  upon 


364     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 


people  the  duty  of  belief  in  Christianity,  but 
rather  assumed  than  stated  Christian  doctrine. 
It  cannot  be  said  that  either  of  them  has 
addressed  himself  to  the  task  of  interpreting 
the  words  of  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles,  as 
other  men  have.  The  capital  defect  is  that 
they  do  not  teach  anything  like  a  systematic 
doctrine  of  sanctification.  Such  a  doctrine  is 
doubtless  unfolded  in  the  New  Testament.  It 
is  not  enough  that  a  preacher  should  aim  at 
the  conversion  of  his  hearers,  and  then  give 
them  ethical  teaching.  Between  these  two 
there  is  a  great  region  of  revealed  truth 
concerning  the  mystery  of  holiness.  Neither 
Hall  nor  Foster,  so  far  as  I  can  find  out,  ever 
taught  in  its  fulness  the  final  truth  of  the  soul's 
union  with  Christ  and  its  bearing  alike  on 
sanctification  and  justification.  We  hear,  and 
it  is  well  we  should  hear,  more  of  this  truth  in 
these  days.  We  hear  much — and  we  cannot 
hear  too  much — of  the  union  of  the  Vine  and 
the  branches,  and  it  must  be  allowed  that  all 
this  side  of  revelation  was  more  or  less  hidden 
from  our  two  famous  preachers.     Nevertheless 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    365 

I  doubt  whether  we  hear  so  much  of  the  still 
more  fundamental  truth  which  they  never 
ceased  to  live  by  and  to  hold — the  truth, 
namely,  that  the  Vine  died  for  the  branches. 


Ill 

Once  more.  Hall  and  Foster  were  men  of 
passion,  and  unless  the  preacher  has  passion 
he  never  can  have  power.  It  would,  perhaps, 
be  too  much  to  say  that  every  preacher  must 
possess  as  they  did  a  measure  of  imagination. 
It  might  be  urged  that  imagination  is  a  Divine 
gift,  and  that  if  it  is  withheld  it  cannot  be 
acquired.  Yet  let  us  consider  what  is  the 
manner  of  the  Divine  giving.  "  The  Lord 
God  hath  given  me  the  tongue  of  the  learned 
that  I  might  know  how  to  speak  a  word  in 
season  to  him  that  is  weary."  How  does  He 
give  it  ?  By  a  mere  supernatural  impartation  ? 
No,  but  by  passing  the  receiver  through  the 
furnace  of  agony.  If  our  Lord,  though  He 
were  a  Son,  learned  obedience  by  the  things 
which     He    suffered,    much    more    may    we. 


366     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

Hall's  experience  was  of  intense  severity.  In 
his  youth  he  passed  through  the  fires  of  an 
unrequited  affection,  with  a  result  that  evidently 
affected  his  whole  nature  and  his  whole  life. 
He  endured  such  complicated  physical  tortures 
as  few  men  have  been  called  to  experience, 
tortures  which  were  known  in  their  full 
measure  only  when  he  died.  For  more  than 
twenty  years  he  never  had  a  clear  night  of 
rest,  though  driven  to  the  constant  use  of 
opiates  in  incredible  quantities.  More  than 
this,  his  mighty  spirit  was  twice  touched  with 
madness.  Yet  he  overcame  so  completely 
that  his  sympathetic  biographer  tells  us  that 
the  law  of  his  life  was  to  turn  everything  into 
enjoyment.  Bulwer-Lytton,  in  The  Caxtons, 
shows  us  how  a  soldier  admired  his  courage,  a 
courage  higher  than  that  of  the  soldier  who 
hurls  a  fierce  handful  of  his  men  against 
outnumbering  enemies,  and  smites  through 
brow  and  brain  till  the  terrified  savages  recoil 
before  his  fury.  This  is  how  the  captain 
describes  it :  ''  What  I  have  seen  in  this  book 
is  courage.     Here  is  a  poor  creature  rolling  on 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    367 

the  carpet  with  agony,  from  childhood  to  death 
tortured  by  a  mysterious  incurable  malady — 
a  malady  that  is  described  as  *  an  internal 
apparatus  of  torture,'  and  who  does  by  his 
heroism  more  than  bear  it — he  puts  it  out  of 
power  to  affect  him,  and  though  (here  is  the 
passage)  his  appointment  by  day  and  by 
night  was  incessant  pain,  yet  high  enjoyment 
was,  notwithstanding,  the  law  of  his  existence. 
Robert  Hall  reads  me  a  lesson — me,  an  old 
soldier,  who  thought  myself  above  taking 
lessons — in  courage  at  least.  And  as  I  came 
to  that  passage  when,  in  the  sharp  paroxysms 
before  death,  he  says,  *  I  have  not  complained, 
have  I,  sir? — and  I  won't  complain!'  when  I 
came  to  that  passage  I  started  up,  and  cried, 
*  Roland  de  Caxton,  thou  hast  been  a  coward  ! 
and,  an  thou  hadst  had  thy  deserts,  thou  hadst 
been  cashiered,  broken,  and  drummed  out  of 
the  regiment  long  ago  ! '  "  It  is  still  the  law 
for  the  poet  who  would  most  deeply  move  his 
fellow-men,  **  Now  that  He  ascended,  what  is 
it  but  that  He  first  descended?"  In  other 
words,  the  poet  must  suffer.     He  must  himself 


368     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 

sound  the  deeps  of  pain  before  he  can  speak 
in  the  new  accent  which  only  sufferers  know. 
Foster,  as  I  have  said,  had  an  almost  morbidly 
acute  sense  of  men's  sins,  of  their  need  of 
mercy,  of  the  peril  under  which  they  lived  so 
long  as  they  neglected  the  great  salvation.  I 
do  not  deny  that  both  of  these  men  had  a 
natural  gift  of  imagination  and  of  genius,  but 
their  chief  power  was  derived  from  sources 
which  are  open  to  us  all,  for  we  too,  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  may  learn  to  love. 
Those  who  love  are  those  who  sorrow,  and 
those  who  fear.  Nor  does  it  often  happen 
that  our  Heavenly  Father  fails  to  give  us  our 
opportunity  of  learning  in  the  hard  school  of 
grief.  The  love  of  Christ  and  the  love  of 
souls,  if  they  are  powerful  within  us,  will  give 
us  the  heavenly  passion  without  which  no 
exercise  of  the  reason,  however  superb,  will 
ever  win  one  single  heart.  Yet  how  many 
sermons  are  dead  for  lack  of  this.  We  might 
say  of  many  preachers  what  Foster  said  of 
Paley,  that  *'  the  author's  imagination  is  as 
subdued  as  the  principle  of  vegetation  in  the 


THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER    369 

middle  of  December."  Never  forget  the  wise 
words  of  Hutton,  '*  Till  thought  becomes  a 
passion,  it  hardly  ever  becomes  a  power." 
Thoughts  must  not  pass  over  the  mind  like 
wind  over  the  grass,  they  must  really  saturate 
it.  The  life  of  a  thought  must  become  identical 
with  the  life  of  an  emotion  before  it  can  really 
dominate  the  minds  of  men,  and  thought  and 
emotion  are  welded  by  long  brooding,  solitary 
meditation,  and  the  manifold  and  humble 
confronting  of  experience. 

Finally,  gentlemen,  find  what  you  can  do, 
and  do  it.  We  are  too  much  under  the 
influence  of  conventionalities  and  routine. 
These  men  bravely  broke  away  from  these 
things,  and  if  you  are  to  do  your  work  you 
may  have  to  break  away  also  from  the  pre- 
s-^ribed  course  and  do  things  which  persons  of 
a  narrow  prudence  condemn.  You  are  pledged 
to  give  Christ's  cause  your  life  and  all  you 
have.  Whatever  line  of  service  you  pursue 
you  have  the  same  duty  of  devotion  and  self- 
discipline,  stern,  real,  persevering,  almost  un- 
intelligible   in    its    methods    to  ordinary  men. 

2  B 


370     THE  PREACHING  OF  HALL  AND  FOSTER 


But  find  your  calling  and  make  it  sure.  Some 
of  you  are  called  to  be  missionaries ;  some  of 
you  are  called  to  be  popular  preachers  ;  some 
of  you  are  called  to  be  students ;  some  of  you 
are  called  to  be  teachers.  Do  not  yield  to 
narrow  conceptions  of  life.  Rather  look  upon 
life  as  sacramental  in  this,  that  it  is  all  to  be 
transformed  into  a  perfect  expression  of  the 
mind  and  will  of  Jesus  Christ.  You  are  no 
less  a  faithful  minister  of  the  New  Testament 
if  you  serve  it  by  the  pen  rather  than  by  the 
voice.  There  is  abundant  room  for  all  the 
orders  of  gifts.  "  He  gave  some  to  be  apostles  ; 
and  some,  prophets;  and  some,  evangelists;  and 
some,  pastors  and  teachers ;  for  the  perfecting 
of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ."  We 
trust  and  pray  that  you  will  live  not  unworthily 
to  fulfil  these  noble  offices. 


THE    PASSION    OF    COWPER^ 

Cowper's  great  place  as  a  poet  is  recognised, 
and  in  all  probability  permanent.  Every 
thoughtful  reader  acknowledges  his  pathos, 
his  sweet  and  tender  spirit,  his  genuine 
humour  and  manliness,  and  marks  in  him  the 
leader  of  the  return  to  truthfulness  and 
simplicity  in  English  poetry.  The  calm  per- 
severance with  which  he  studied  nature  bore 
its  fruit,  and  released  English  writers  from 
the  spell  of  Pope,  who  seldom  described  any 
natural  object  with  correctness  or  precision. 
It  is  generally  taken  for  granted  that  it  was 
Burns,  and  not  Cowper,  who  signalised  the 
revival  of  passion  in  our  literature,  and  upon 
the    whole    this    cannot    be    disputed.     Yet    I 

^  Address  prepared  for  the  Cowper  Centenary  at  Olney,  on  April 
25,  1900. 

371 


372  THE  PASSION  OF  COWPER 

propose  to  show  that  in  the  religious  poetry 
of  Cowper  there  is  an  unsurpassed  passion,  a 
passion,  however,  strangely  absent  in  other 
regions  where  it  might  have  been  looked  for. 
It  is  not  possible,  as  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith  has 
well  observed,  to  consider  Cowper  apart  from 
religion,  but  my  object  is  simply  to  chronicle 
his  religious  views  and  their  effect  upon  his 
poetry,  without  attempting  either  to  confirm 
or  to  confute  them. 


The  starting-point  of  Cowper's  religion 
was  his  sense  of  guilt.  It  is  easy  to  speak  of 
the  hard  and  revolting  views  of  religion  which 
he  took  from  his  religious  friends.  We  may 
say  what  we  please  about  his  guides,  but  the 
fact  will  remain  that  they  answered  his 
questions  and  provided  a  remedy  for  his 
needs.  Whether  those  questions  were  such 
as  should  be  asked,  whether  those  needs  were 
real  or  imaginary,  is  quite  another  matter. 
Cowper  conceived  himself  the  object  of  God's 


THE  PASSION  OF  COW  PER  373 

wrath  and  curse,  an  alien,  a  castaway,  exposed 
in  the  eternal  future  to  deserved  and  con- 
suming agony.  The  sense  of  his  sin  drove 
him  to  despair.  He  never  had  any  passing 
doubt  of  God's  existence  or  of  God's  justice, 
and  it  would  have  been  of  no  use  to  comfort 
him  by  palliating  his  own  transgression,  or 
by  arguing  that  God  was  very  merciful  and 
would  not  trouble  about  his  sin.  He  needed 
quite  other  remedies.  In  order  to  understand 
Cowper  we  must  in  some  measure  understand 
what  is  meant  by  despair,  by  religious  despair, 
if  the  expression  is  not  redundant — for  it  may 
be  contended  that  all  despair  is  in  a  sense 
religious. 

Now  the  locus  classicus  about  despair  in 
English  literature  is  probably  Charlotte 
Bronte's  description  in  Villette,  from  which 
I  borrow  a  few  sentences — 

For  nine  dark  and  wet  days  of  which  the  hours 
rushed  on  all  turbulent,  deaf,  dishevelled,  bewildered 
with  sounding  hurricane,  I  lay  in  a  strange  fever  of 
the  nerves  and  blood.  Sleep  went  quite  away.  I 
used  to  rise  in  the  night,  look  round  for  her,  beseech 


374  THE  PASSION  OF  COWPER 

her  earnestly  to  return.  A  rattle  of  the  window,  a 
cry  of  the  blast  only  replied.  Sleep  never  came  ! 
I  err  ;  she  came  once,  but  in  anger.  Impatient  of 
my  importunity,  she  brought  with  her  an  avenging 
dream.  By  the  clock  of  St.  Jean  Baptiste,  that 
dream  remained  scarce  fifteen  minutes — a  brief 
space,  but  sufficing  to  wring  my  whole  frame  with 
unknown  anguish  ;  to  confer  a  nameless  experience 
that  had  the  hue,  the  mien,  the  terror,  the  very  tone 
of  a  visitation  from  eternity.  Between  twelve  and 
one  that  night  a  cup  was  forced  to  my  lips,  black, 
strong,  strange,  drawn  from  no  well,  but  filled  up 
seething  from  a  bottomless  and  boundless  sea. 
Suffering  brewed  in  temporal  or  calculable  measure, 
and  mixed  for  mortal  lips,  tastes  not  as  this  suffer- 
ing tasted.  Having  drunk  and  woke,  I  thought  all 
was  over  ;  the  end  come  and  past  by.  .  .  .  When 
I  tried  to  pray,  I  could  only  utter  these  words : 
"  From  my  youth  up  Thy  terrors  have  I  suffered 
with  a  troubled  mind." 

Experiences  like  these  are  happily  foreign  to 
many  people,  but  there  are  many  who  under- 
stand them,  and  there  will  be  many  in  the 
future  to  understand  them.  It  was  out  of 
such  agonies  that   Cowper's  peace  was  born, 


THE  PASSION  OF  COWPER  375 

a  peace  sometimes  strangely  overcast,  yet 
true  and  deep  whilst  it  lasted.  The  expres- 
sions of  that  peace  are  written  down  in  words 
austerely  simple  and  bare,  but  full  of  passion 
nevertheless.  Because  they  are  full  of  passion 
the  words  must  live,  making  their  appeal  to 
those  who  may  be  able  to  understand  them, 
be  they  many  or  few.  In  some  of  Cowper's 
hymns  there  is  as  genuine  a  passion  as  is  to 
be  found  anywhere  in  the  speech  of  men. 

In  his  early  and  remarkable  novel,  Margaret 
DenziFs  History,  Mr.  Frederick  Greenwood 
illustrates  this.  His  heroine  has  come  to  the 
first  terrible  crisis  of  life,  to  the  moment  when 
she  is  suffering  ''  all  those  fevers,  fever  of 
youth,  fever  of  love,  fever  of  death."  She 
sits  in  her  racking  agony  with  an  intense  and 
dreadful  silence  flowing  through  her  heart. 
She  wakens  as  from  a  dream  to  hear  her  old 
nurse  coming  downstairs  with  her  customary 
deliberation,  murmuring  her  hymns.  ''  There 
is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood,"  sung  she  m 
her  crooning,  quavering  old  voice — words 
which  the  young  girl  had  never  heard  without 


376 


THE  PASSION  OF  COWPER 


wanting  to  cry,  or  without  being  lifted  away 
into  a  solitude  from  all  her  troubles  apart. 
Now  that  the  one  familiar  softening  sound 
reaches  her,  so  do  many  more.  The  clock 
in  the  hall  begins  to  tick,  there  is  a  clattering 
of  pans  in  the  dairy-kitchen,  the  wind  rushes 
past,  and  the  call  of  a  cowboy  is  blown  in  at 
an  open  door.  All  then  is  well  in  the  world. 
It  goes  on.  The  old  woman  proceeds  upon 
her  household  errands,  and  what  she  sings  is 
that  at  the  worst  there  is  a  fountain  filled  with 
blood  to  renew  them  that  are  wicked  or  suffer 
or  die.  The  girl  lets  the  hymn  have  its  way 
with  her,  and  it  breaks  up  that  oppression  of 
too  much  care,  too  much  thought,  that  had 
almost  stopped  the  beating  of  her  heart.  She 
cried,  and  there  was  no  more  grief  in  her 
tears  than  in  the  rain  which  now  fell  in  a 
close,  swift  shower.  The  words  had  done 
their  work.  When  a  little  later  a  fresh  test 
came  and  her  mind  could  bear  no  more,  she 
sat  down  under  some  blessed  guidance  to 
sing  her  hymns  once  again,  and  she  sang 
them  from  end  to  end. 


THE  PASSION  OF  COW  PER  377 

There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood, 

Drawn  from  Immanuel's  veins ; 
And  sinners  plunged  beneath  that  flood 

Lose  all  their  guilty  stains. 

When  they  were  done  she  found  her  lover 
kneeling  on  the  ground  with  the  rain  beating 
upon  him,  and  his  face  laid  on  the  stone  sill 
with  the  lamp  shining  full  upon  it, — a  white 
mask  upon  a  black  night.  **  O  Margaret, 
Margaret,  I  live !  I  came  here  to  look  at 
you  through  the  window,  if  I  could,  or  if  not, 
to  kiss  the  wall  before  I  killed  myself,  and 
you,  you  who  know  nothing,  commenced  to 
sing  your  innocent  hymns  and  drive  the 
temptation  away."  It  is  easy  to  criticise  the 
hymn  and  set  it  aside,  but  ''deep  calleth  unto 
deep,"  the  deep  of  misery  to  the  deep  of 
mercy,  and  this  is  a  hymn  for  the  desperate, 
a  hymn  for  hearts  that  are  like  a  forest  that 
fire  has  traversed,  leaving  apparently  nothing 
behind  it  but  red  smoke  and  black  ashes. 


378  THE  PASSION  OF  COWPER 


II 

Still  speaking  historically,  I  note  that 
Cowper  was  hardly  at  all  in  line  with  the 
minds  that  seek  God,  not  because  they  are 
afraid  of  Him,  but  because  they  want  Him, 
because  they  feel  that  nothing  in  this  world 
can  make  up  for  the  loss  of  missing  Him.  In 
many  religious  minds  there  is  hardly  such  a 
feeling  as  the  dread  of  punishment.  There 
is  a  reaching  out  towards  the  Perfection  of 
Beauty.  Perhaps  this  feeling  is  more  common 
now  than  it  has  ever  been.  But  the  record  of 
religious  experience  shows  that  it  is  constant. 
In  the  interesting  and  pathetic  biography  of 
G.  J.  Romanes,  the  brilliant  interpreter  of 
Darwin,  we  find  him  saying  :  ''  The  two  most 
precious  things  in  life  are  faith  and  love.  .  .-. 
The  whole  thing  is  vanity  and  vexation  of 
spirit  without  faith  and  love.  Perhaps  it  is 
by  way  of  compensation  for  having  lost  the 
former  that  the  latter  has  been  dealt  me  in 
such  full  measure.  I  never  knew  any  one  so 
well  off  in   this   respect.     Still,   even    love    is 


THE  PASSION  OF  COW  PER  379 

not  capable  of  becoming  to  me  any  compensa- 
tion for  the  loss  of  faith."  George  Macdonald 
in  our  day  has  done  much  to  interpret  this 
phase  of  emotion.  Cowper's  whole  theology 
rested  on  the  need  of  pardon,  and  the  God 
Whom  he  knew  and  loved  was  first  of  all  a 
pardoning  God.  No  doubt  he  aspired  after 
a  nearer  intimacy — "  O  for  a  closer  walk 
with  God  !  " — but  the  ecstasy,  the  abandon- 
ment of  spirits  who  love  God  too  much  to 
fear  Him  was  never  his.  Of  course  the  moods 
of  mind  may  go  together.  There  may  be  the 
desire  to  know  God  along  with  the  desire  for 
pardon,  as,  for  example,  in  Augustine  and  in 
Jonathan  Edwards.  As  a  rule,  however,  the 
distinction  is  real  and  abiding.  It  is  worth 
while  to  note  that  Cowper  was  introduced  by 
his  accomplished  friend,  Mr.  Bull,  to  the 
writings  of  Madame  Guyon,  a  mystic  who 
sought  and  found  God  in  another  way  from 
his.  At  the  suggestion  of  his  friend,  Cowper 
wrote  some  translations  from  Madame  Guyon's 
hymns,  but  it  is  very  instructive  to  read  these 
along  with   the   Olney   hymns.     Some   of  the 


38o  THE  PASSION  OF  COWPER 

Olney  hymns  must  live  with  Christianity,  but 
I  doubt  whether  even  ardent  admirers  of 
Cowper  know  the  Guyon  translations.  The 
fact  is,  Madame  Guyon  was  hardly  intelligible 
to  Cowper.  He  translated  her  poem  '*  Divine 
Justice  Amiable,"  but  his  heart  could  not  have 
gone  almost  with  a  line  of  it.  It  is  a  gentle 
defiance,  or,  rather,  a  gentle  welcome  of 
punishment — 

Smite  me,  O  Thou  whom  I  provoke, 

And  I  will  love  Thee  still : 
The  well  deserv'd  and  righteous  stroke 

Shall  please  me,  though  it  kill. 

I  have  no  punishment  to  fear ; 

But  ah  !  that  smile  from  Thee 
Imparts  a  pang,  far  more  severe 

Than  woe  itself  could  be. 

Cowper  had  learned  in  quite  another  school 
from  that,  and  he  could  not  master  the  new 
accent.  His  religious  joy  was  the  joy  of  a 
tremulous,  humble  penitent  at  the  foot  of  the 
Cross.  And  of  the  mystic's  intense  and  pale 
passion  he  was  altogether  ignorant. 


THE  PASSION  OF  COWPER  381 

III 

We  come  down  to  the  homely  earth,  and 
ask  whether  Cowper  understood  the  passion 
of  love.  It  is  on  the  surface  that  more  than 
almost  any  man  he  owed  whatever  pleasure 
he  had  in  existence  to  women.  He  was 
attractive  to  them,  partly  because  he  needed 
them,  partly  because  of  his  combination  of 
genius  with  winning  and  gentle  ways.  But 
it  is  hard  not  to  agree  with  Mrs.  Oliphant, 
who  says  that  he  was  by  nature  a  celibate. 
To  me  the  most  haunting  and  attractive  figure 
in  his  life  is  his  cousin  Theodora,  to  whom 
he  was  engaged  in  his  youth.  We  gather 
from  various  glimpses  that  she  was  a  high- 
spirited,  intellectual,  and  warmly  affectionate 
girl.  Her  father  refused  his  consent  to  her 
marriage,  and  she  silently  submitted,  but  to 
her  lover  she  remained  true  and  faithful  to 
the  end.  I  am  inclined  to  agree  with  Mr. 
Bagehot  that  a  persistent  lover  who  has  the 
lady's  consent  need  not  fear  the  opposition  of 
relatives.      But  however  this  may  be,  Cowper 


382  THE  PASSION  OF  COWPER 


saw  her  no  more.  He  was  disappointed, 
doubtless,  but  he  found  others  to  lean  upon. 
He  never  saw  her,  never  even  wrote  to 
her,  after  their  separation.  Her  sister.  Lady 
Hesketh,  returned  to  intimacy  with  her  cousin, 
and  doubtless  gave  Theodora  detailed  descrip- 
tions of  his  way  of  life.  There  is  every  reason 
to  suppose  that  Theodora  sent  many  kind 
gifts  both  to  him  and  to  Mrs.  Unwin,  and  she 
probably  wrote  him  one  anonymous  letter, 
"  in  the  kindest  and  most  benevolent  language 
imaginable."  But  all  that  Cowper  ever  did 
was  to  send  her  a  message  through  Lady 
Hesketh  when  her  father  died.  In  this  he 
expressed  "a  warm  hope  that  you  and  your 
sister  will  be  able  effectually  to  avail  your- 
selves of  all  the  consolatory  matter,"  etc. 
''Your  sister" — he  did  not  say  ''Theodora"; 
he  did  not  say  "  my  dear  cousin  "  or  "  my  dear 
friend."  She  lived  on  and  on  till  she  had 
survived  him  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
placing  his  letters  and  manuscript  poems  to 
her  for  safety  with  a  friend.  Her  last  days 
were  darkened  by  the  habitual  melancholy  of 


THE  PASSION  OF  COWPER  383 

the  family.     This  is  very  nearly  all  we  know 
— not  quite  all. 

It  is  very  hard  to  judge  how  disappoint- 
ments in  love  affect  the  heart,  simply  because 
in  these  matters  men  and  women  keep  their 
secrets  well,  and  often  carry  them  to  their 
graves.  The  world  knows  of  some  great, 
constant,  enduring  passions,  of  love  so  im- 
perious and  awful  that,  in  spite  of  all  separa- 
tions, it  dominates  the  whole  life.  It  has  not 
to  this  day  forgotten  the  passion  that  was 
between  Abelard  and  Heloise.  It  still  keeps 
that  last  letter  of  Abelard  :  "  Do  not  write  to 
me  any  more.  This  is  the  last  letter  you  will 
receive  from  me,  but  in  whatsoever  place  I 
die  I  shall  leave  directions  for  my  body  to 
be  conveyed  to  Paraclete.  Then  I  shall  require 
prayers  and  not  tears  :  then  only  you  will  see 
me  to  fortify  your  piety,  and  my  corpse,  more 
eloquent  than  myself,  will  teach  you  what  one 
loves  when  one  loves  a  man."  Two-and- 
twenty  years  Heloise  watched  by  his  tomb, 
and  then  her  body  was  placed  within  it. 
The  significant  legend  has  it  that  the  faithful 


384  THE  PASSION  OF  COWPER 

husband  extended  his  fleshless  arms  to  receive 
her  when  she  was  laid  by  his  side.  More 
often  the  parting  of  lovers  is  a  fearful  wound, 
but  not  a  mortal  blow.  They  suffer  cruelly, 
but  they  survive,  and  as  time  passes  are 
consoled.  Cowper  did  not  apparently  brood 
on  such  things.  Indeed,  he  carefully  avoided 
whatever  would  awaken  the  memory  of  his 
pain.  He  kept  silence,  and  thus  found 
oblivion.  One  doubts,  however,  whether  his 
pain  was  very  deep,  whether  it  ever  went  to 
the  centre  of  his  nature.  No,  he  was  not  the 
restorer  of  passion.  The  restorer  of  passion 
was  Robert  Burns,  who  sang — 

Had  we  never  loved  so  kindly, 
Had  we  never  loved  so  blindly, 
Never  met  and  never  parted, 
We  had  ne'er  been  broken-hearted. 

All  the  joy  and  all  the  agony  of  love  is  in 
that !  Yet  who  can  interpret  the  secrets  of 
a  soul }  When  Cowper  returned  from  a  visit 
to  Hayley,  he  passed  a  day  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Theodora's  old  home,  and,  we  are 
told,    ''  overwhelmed,  he  sat  at  the  corner  of 


THE  PASSION  OF  COWPER  385 

the  fireplace  in  total  silence."  He  was  in  the 
old  road  of  his  youth,  beside  the  house  of 
the  young  girl  whom  he  had  loved  and  wooed, 
who  had  given  him  all  her  warm  heart, 
between  whom  and  himself  the  river  of  life 
had  rolled  more  broadly  year  after  year. 
**  Overwhelmed,  he  sat  at  the  corner  of  the  fire- 
place in  total  silence!' 


2  c 


JOSEPH    PARKER:    IN    MEMORIAM^ 

I  AM  here  to-day  in  obedience  to  Dr.  Parker's 
last  and  repeated  request,  and  no  other  con- 
straint would  have  induced  me  to  speak  at 
such  a  time  as  this.  I  know,  however,  that  I 
speak  for  all,  when  I  say  that  it  is  with  songs 
of  praise  that  we  remember  the  dear  father  in 
God  who  has  now  entered  the  blessed  and 
everlasting  rest.  We  cannot  but  mourn  that 
he  has  left  us.  We  mourn  as  Christians  ;  the 
whole  Christian  Church  mourns  for  one  of  the 
greatest  preachers  Christ  ever  called.  We 
mourn  as  Free  Churchmen  ;  for  we  cannot  but 
feel  to-day  how  rich  we  have  been,  and  how 
poor  we  are  becoming.  ''  My  father,  my 
father !    the  chariot  of  Israel,   and  the  horse- 

1  Memorial  address  at  the  funeral  service,   City  Temple,   London, 
December  4,  1902. 

386 


JOSEPH  PARKER:  IN  ME  MORI  AM  387 

men  thereof."  Only  if  he  could  speak,  with 
what  lofty  and  generous  passion  he  would 
rebuke  our  misgivings,  and  tell  us  to  cease 
from  man  !  *'  Moses,  my  servant,  is  dead  .  .  . 
now  therefore  arise."  We  sorrow  as  friends, 
for  who  can  but  grieve  for  the  tender,  generous, 
eager,  impulsive  nature,  the  mere  thought  of 
which  used  to  bring  warmth  and  light  ?  And 
there  is  an  inner  circle  bound  to  him  more 
closely,  whose  grief  must  be  deep  and  lasting, 
for  no  one  was  more  dearly  loved  in  his  own 
home  than  Dr.  Parker  was. 

But  we  lift  up  our  hearts  in  joy  and  thank- 
fulness over  the  great  life  now  closed.  We 
rejoice  that  he  has  been  delivered  from  his 
sufferings,  that  he  has  been  unclothed  from  the 
weary  weight  of  the  body.  He  counted  his 
last  trials  strange,  for  he  had  little  experience 
of  physical  pain,  and  did  not  look  for  death. 
In  his  case  the  accompaniments  of  death  were 
stern,  so  stern  that  the  loving  watchers  longed 
for  his  release.  But  his  soul  rose  up  to  con- 
front and  read  the  mystery,  and  to  bear  the 
appointed  burden.      When   I  saw  him  last  he 


388  JOSEPH  PARKER:  IN  MEMORIAM 

was  haggard,  wistful,  weary,  and  suffering,  but 
he  said,  *'  There  is  balm  in  the  air."  He  had 
been  cheered  by  tokens  of  love.  When  dying 
he  spoke  not  much  of  religion,  but  I  will  quote 
some  of  his  sayings  from  the  sick-bed  and  the 
death-bed,  sayings  which  will  help  us  to  under- 
stand the  currents  of  thought  running  deep  and 
fast  through  the  silences. 

About  the  middle  of  his  illness,  when  he 
thought  he  might  recover,  he  said  one  day, 
'*  If  I  were  to  die,  I  should  have  finished  all 
my  work,  accomplished  all  my  plans,  fulfilled 
all  my  ambitions.  Yes,"  he  said  meditatively, 
'*  my  life  is  mysteriously  complete.  One  thing 
only  I  might  do ;  I  should  like  to  write  a  life 
of  the  Saviour."  **  Yes,"  I  replied,  *' and  you 
have  known  no  loss  of  power  and  influence." 
He  dwelt  on  this  with  deep  gratitude,  and 
who  can  wonder,  for  few  were  more  alive  to  the 
comedy  and  tragedy  of  life.  He  had  seen  so 
many  suns  go  down  while  it  was  yet  day.  He 
had  seen  the  youths  faint  and  grow  weary,  and 
the  young  men  utterly  fall.  It  is  so  rarely 
that  we  can  say  of  a  human  life,  "  It  is  finished.' 


JOSEPH  PARKER:  IN  MEMORIAM  389 

So  many  toilers  die  on  the  verge,  as  it  seems, 
of  their  achievement.  They  must  be  content 
to  put  the  unfinished  work  and  the  unfulfilled 
hopes  into  God's  hand  again.  And  almost 
always  in  old  age  there  is  a  period  of  abate- 
ment and  decay.  Few  gifts  of  nature  or 
fortune  keep  their  brilliancy  unimpaired  by 
time.  Even  the  gifts  of  grace  for  achievement 
often  turn  in  the  end  into  gifts  for  endurance. 
That  endurance  is  indeed  a  test.  Some  find  it 
hard  to  subside  into  obscurity  with  grace  and 
content ;  some  find  it  easy.  The  trial  never 
came  to  our  dear  friend.  He  was  at  the  zenith 
of  his  power  and  fame  when  he  last  stood  in 
this  pulpit.  "  Those  that  be  planted  in  the 
House  of  the  Lord  shall  flourish  in  the  courts 
of  our  God.  They  shall  still  bring  forth  fruit 
in  old  age."  Time  seemed  to  build  up  rather 
than  dull  the  fires  of  his  genius.  The  thrill 
and  glow  of  his  preaching  were  there,  as  in  the 
days  of  his  brilliant  youth  and  his  magnificent 
prime.  To  the  last  he  was  surrounded  by 
crowds  of  young  men,  and  he  was  the 
youngest    of  them   all.      When    I   last   looked 


390  JOSEPH  PARKER:  IN  MEMORIAM 

Up  to  him  in  the  pulpit  it  seemed  as  if  the  fire 
of  his  eye  and  spirit  was  in  no  wise  quenched 
or  overborne.  He  lived  till  his  primacy  as  a 
preacher  was  owned  by  his  bitterest  opponents. 
We  never  saw  him  at  his  work  overburdened 
and  overmatched,  worn  and  strained  and 
broken.  He  grew  younger  in  spirit  as  he 
grew  older  in  years.  Each  year  seemed  to 
bring  him  new  energy  and  new  insight.  And 
now  he  has  wakened  to  the  eternal  life  as 
young  as  the  oldest  angel,  for  "  the  oldest 
angels  are  the  youngest." 

''  As  I  have  grown  older,"  he  said  more 
than  once,  with  significant  emphasis,  ''  I  have 
become  more  evangelical.  I  have  preached 
Christ  crucified."  This  was  his  boast — that 
he  had  been  a  faithful  Gospel  minister.  Of 
the  intellectual  splendour  of  his  preaching,  of 
its  indescribable  originality,  I  will  not  try 
to  speak.  Who  can  analyse  its  magic,  its 
wizardry,  its  enchantment  ?  When  we  think 
of  it,  we  are  tempted  faithlessly  to  say  that  as 
a  preacher  his  like  or  equal  will  come  no  more. 
I  leave  that,  to  emphasise  the  burning  earnest- 


JOSEPH  PARKER:  IN  MEMORIAM  391 

ness  of  his  evangelicalism.  Thirty  years  ago 
he  said,  *'  I  live  to  preach  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus.  From  early  youth  this  has  been  my 
supreme  joy.  As  a  boy  I  preached  it  on  many 
a  wayside,  on  many  a  sawpit,  and  in  many  a 
field.  Before  I  had  reached  years  of  manhood 
I  had  walked  hundreds  of  miles  to  preach  the 
Gospel  in  kitchens,  in  barns,  and  in  village 
chapels.  And  now  that  I  have  had  twenty 
years  of  it  I  give  myself  in  still  fonder  and 
tenderer  love  to  the  dear  and  mighty  Cross  of 
Christ."  You  know  how  the  vow  was  paid. 
He  never  took  his  gaze  from  the  infinite 
secrets  of  sacrificial  sorrow. 

He  said  one  night,  not  long  before  the  end, 
on  half  waking  from  great  pain,  "  My  love 
to  my  Jesus — all  the  time."  This  intense 
personal  love  for  Christ  kept  running  and 
gleaming  through  all  his  years  like  a  thread 
of  gold.  He  was  greatest  when  he  was 
preaching  Christ  and  expounding  Christ's 
words.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  any 
interpreter  has  more  deeply  comprehended 
the    mysteries    of    the     kingdom    of    Christ. 


392  JOSEPH  PARKER:  IN  MEMORIAM 

This  enthusiasm  of  love  became  the  calm 
habit  of  his  soul,  and  this  half-conscious  saying, 
"  My  love  to  my  Jesus — all  the  time,"  ex- 
pressed, I  am  certain,  his  deepest  and  most 
constant  mood. 

Yes,  thro'  life,  death,  thro'  sorrow  and  thro'  sinning, 
He  shall  suffice  me,  for  He  hath  sufficed ; 

Christ  is  the  end,  for  Christ  was  the  beginning, 
Christ  the  beginning,  for  the  end  is  Christ. 

Let  me  reverently  add  a  word  on  the  great 
sorrow  of  his  later  years.  There  was  a  time 
when  ''  like  Paul  with  beasts  he  fought  with 
death."  The  cherished  wife  who  was  his 
shadow,  his  second  self,  his  eye,  his  foot,  his 
hand,  was  taken  from  him.  Dr.  Parker's 
strong  mind  and  tender  nature  seemed  to  reel 
under  the  blow.  He  even  feared  that  the 
powers  of  evil  then  might  separate  him  from 
the  love  of  Christ.  He  went  straight  from 
the  grave  to  his  preaching,  and  it  was  most 
pathetic  to  see  him  going  back  to  the  founda- 
tions of  his  faith,  and  laying  them  over  again 
stone  by  stone.  He  was  always  deeply 
conscious    of   the    unknown    and    unmeasured 


JOSEPH  PARKER  :  IN  MEMORIAM  393 

differences  between  time  and  eternity.  The 
great  shattering  break  of  death  was  terrible 
in  his  eyes.  His  mind  was  thrown  back  on 
the  last  mysteries,  and  grappled  with  them 
steadily,  but  for  the  most  part  silently.  He 
was  scrupulously  and  severely  truthful  in  his 
expressions  of  religious  trust,  and  he  was  for  a 
long  time  most  reticent  as  to  his  hopes.  But 
his  wife's  faith  in  immortality  was  so  radiant 
and  triumphant,  that  I  always  think  of  her  in 
connection  with  Browning's  line — 

"  Love  is  all,  and  death  is  nought,"  quoth  she. 

Humbly,  tremblingly,  slowly,  her  husband 
took  hold  of  the  great  trust.  He  turned  his 
face  to  the  other  shore.  He  said  wistfully, 
but  with  a  hopeful  look,  **  It  is  a  long  time 
since  I  saw  her.  Will  she  know  me  again  }  " 
He  had  waited  at  the  gate  and  watched  till 
the  vision  came.  It  came  at  last,  and  his 
mind  turned  fondly  to  her,  and  to  those  who 
had  left  him  in  the  long  ago.  The  last  work 
he  undertook  was  a  little  book  of  consolation 
for  mourners,  and  the  title  was  to  be,  **  Con- 


394  JOSEPH  PARKER :  IN  MEMORIAM 

cerning  them  which  are  asleep."  He  has  left 
the  first  chapter  behind  him.  *'  Concerning 
them  which  are  asleep — that  is  what  we  want 
to  know.  We  want  to  know  all  they  can  tell 
us.  We  are  hardly  content  with  being  told, 
we  want  to  see  it  all,  and  take  fellowship  with 
them  that  sing  a  new  song.  They  will  come 
by  and  by.  It  is  all  arranged.  Do  not 
suppose  they  are  forgotten.  God  sends  for 
the  people  just  as  He  thinks  heaven  can  admit 
them.  There  is  no  haste  there,  no  crowding, 
no  rushing,  no  clamour.  Here  is  a  man  who 
has  something  to  say  concerning  them  which 
are  asleep.  He  is  welcome,  thrice  welcome. 
He  brings  us  news  from  a  far  country.  We 
have  dreams  and  visions,  and  many  a  golden 
fancy,  but  we  want  to  hear  those  who  can  tell 
us  anything  that  can  cheer  our  hearts.  Give 
him  time,  let  him  take  his  own  way  in  telling 
the  tale.  He  will  warm  our  hearts  presently. 
Now,  chief  of  the  saints,  mightiest  of  the 
stalwarts,  Paul,  we  are  prepared  to  hear  con- 
cerning them  which  are  asleep,  the  old  friends, 
the  young   folks,  the   little  angels,  and   those 


JOSEPH  PARKER:  IN  MEMORIAM  395 

who  are  growing  old  in  heaven.  Only  there 
is  no  old  age  there." 

He  greatly  delighted  in  the  quaint  and 
beautiful  hymn  of  Cennick,  "  Ere  I  sleep,  for 
every  favour,"  and  in  its  last  verse  especially. 
He  listened  to  it  as  life  ebbed  away.  I  will 
close  with  some  words  from  it  —  they  were 
among  the  last  words  Dr.  Parker  spoke  from 
this  pulpit,  the  words  of  his  benediction — 
"  May  grace,  mercy,  and  peace,  the  triune 
blessing  of  the  Triune  God,  rest  and  abide 
with  us  all  till  we  rise  with  the  wise,  counted 
in  their  number." 

That  voice — shall  we  not  hear  it  again  ? 


THE    END 


Printed  by  R.  &  R.  Clark',  Limited,  Edinbiirgh 


DATE  DUE 


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